Identification of Genes with Differential Regulation in Primate Endometrium During the Proliferative and Secretory Phases of the Cycle

To study gene expression in the endometrium at different stages of the menstrual cycle, differential mRNA display and reverse Northern analysis were performed on uterine tissues from cynomolgus monkeys. Eutopic endometrial RNA was prepared from uteri of animals that were either ovariectomized and supplemented with hormones, or were not ovariectomized but were subjected to surgically induced endometriosis. A number of genes were identified whose levels fluctuated between the proliferative and secretory phases of the cycle. Expression of four genes thus identified was further examined by in situ hybridization to normal human endometrial biopsies. Iodothyronine deiodinase was uniformly expressed at all stages of the human cycle that were studied: proliferative, secretory, and menstrual. Fibulin 1, osteopontin, and cathepsin H exhibited complex temporal and spatial regulation. Fibulin 1 was expressed in glandular epithelia during the menstrual phase, but expression switched to the stroma during the secretory ...