Expression of pluripotency markers in the bovine uterus with adenomyosis

• DOI: 10.1186/s12958-015-0106-0
• Publication Date: 2015-09-29T01:33:53Z
• Authors: Martyna Łupicka; Barbara Socha; Agata Szczepańska; Anna Korzekwa
• Keywords: Homeodomain Proteins; Pluripotent Stem Cells; 0301 basic medicine; Short Communication; SOXB1 Transcription Factors; Uterus; Nanog Homeobox Protein; 03 medical and health sciences; Endocrinology; Reproductive Medicine; Gene Expression Regulation; Animals; Cattle; Female; Octamer Transcription Factor-3; Adenomyosis; Biomarkers; Developmental Biology

Adenomyosis is a proliferative uterine dysfunction with unknown aetiology. One possible mechanism of its development involves disturbances in stem cell differentiation in uterine tissue. Previously, we identified pluripotent/multipotent cells in the bovine uterus, therefore our present study focused on determining expression of pluripotency markers, NANOG, OCT4 and SOX2, in bovine adenomyotic tissues and cells.Immunolocalisation revealed protein expression of NANOG, OCT4 and SOX2 in both normal and adenomyotic uteri. mRNA expression for NANOG and OCT4 was increased in tissues obtained from uteri with adenomyosis compared to controls, but at the protein level there were no significant differences. mRNA expression for all three pluripotency markers was higher in myometrial cells isolated from uteri with adenomyotic lesions than in those isolated from normal uteri. The protein level of NANOG and SOX2 was decreased in stromal cells from adenomyotic tissues, whereas the level of OCT4 and SOX2 was increased in myometrial cells obtained from dysfunctional uteri.The results indicate significant changes in expression of pluripotency markers in adenomyotic compared to normal uteri, which suggest the involvement of uterine stem cells in adenomyosis.