Expression patterns of VEGF and Flk-1 in human endometrium during the menstrual cycle

The VEGF is essential in the process of tissue remodeling and angiogenesis. Limited data is available on the expression and regulation of VEGF and its receptors in the human endometrium. The aim of this study was evaluation of expression patterns of VEGF and Flk-1 in human endometrium during the menstrual cycle. Sixty paraffin-embedded blocks of endometrial tissues from the patients with normal menstrual cycles were obtained. Tissue samples were assembled into tissue microarray slides and classified by histological dating into five phases: the proliferative [n=14], peri-ovulatory [n=9], early-secretory [n=12], mid-secretory [n=11] and late-secretory [n=14] phases. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using VEGF or Flk-1 monoclonal antibodies. The intensity of immunostaining was evaluated by the semi-quantitative scoring method [HSCORE]. Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and Scheff's post-hoc test were used for statistical analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. VEGF and Flk-1 were expressed in the three components of the endometrium at various phases of the menstrual cycle. In the stroma, the expression of VEGF varied among the phases [p<0.05]. The expression of Flk-1 in the luminal and glandular epithelium revealed stronger intensity of immunostaining as compared with the stroma at the different phases [p<0.05]. The level of Flk-1 expression also showed significant differences among the phases in the glandular epithelium with greatest expression at late-secretory phase [p<0.05]. Temporal and spatial distribution of VEGF and Flk-1 expression in the three components of human endometrium during menstrual cycle suggests the functional role of angiogenesis in the remodeling process of endometrial tissue

The roles of ARID1A in gynecologic cancer / 부인종양

One of the exciting findings in recent cancer genome studies is the discovery of somatic mutations in several chromatin remodeling genes. These studies not only illuminate the emerging roles of chromatin remodeling in the pathogenesis of human cancer but also provide molecular genetic basis of aberrant epigenomic regulation as one of the key mechanisms driving cancer development. This is because chromatin remodeling influences a variety of DNA activities such as replication, transcription, repair, methylation, and recombination. Among the mutated chromatin remodeling genes reported, ARID1A is frequently mutated in a variety of human cancers, especially in endometrium-related neoplasms including ovarian clear cell carcinoma, ovarian endometrioid carcinomas, and uterine endometrioid carcinomas, all of which arise from endometrial epithelium. This review will summarize the recent advances in studying the roles of ARID1A mutations in gynecologic cancers with special emphasis on how this new knowledge will further extend our understanding of the pathogenesis of endometrium-related carcinomas.