Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lessey, Bruce A.
• Castelbaum, Arthur J.
• Sawin, Stephen W.
• Sun, Jinghai

Titel

Integrins as markers of uterine receptivity in women with primary unexplained infertility

Ist Teil von

• Fertility and sterility, 1995-03, Vol.63 (3), p.535-542

Ort / Verlag

New York, NY: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

1995

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• To assess uterine receptivity in women with unexplained infertility using integrin cell adhesion molecules as markers. Prospective, controlled study design. Eighty-seven nulliparous women with unexplained infertility and 32 fertile and infertile parous controls. Immunohistochemical staining for α1, α4, and β3 integrin subunits in endometrial biopsies obtained during the window of implantation (days 20 to 24), using the semiquantitative HSCORE by two observers in a blinded fashion. All endometrial biopsies from parous controls contained positive immunostaining for the α1, and β3 integrin subunits in glandular epithelium. Some samples from parous controls were missing the α4 subunit. In contrast, compared with parous controls, biopsies from women with unexplained infertility had reduced significantly β3 expression, with similar expression of α1 and α4. Two distinct defects in integrin expression were identified: “out-of-phase” samples that lacked β3 because of histologic lag (type I defects) and “in-phase” endometrium that still failed to express this integrin (type II defects). These subclassifications accounted for 26% and 39% of the total unexplained infertility group, respectively. Abnormal endometrial integrin expression was a frequent finding in women with unexplained infertility. These data suggest that defective uterine receptivity may be an unrecognized cause of infertility in this population of women.