L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) as a pathogenetic factor in endometriosis

D Finas, Monica Huszar, M Huszar, A Agic, S Dogan, Helena Kiefel, H Kiefel, Svenja Riedle, S Riedle, Daniela Gast, D Gast, Robert Marcovich, R Marcovich, F Noack, P Altevogt, Peter Altevogt, Mina Fogel, M Fogel, D Hornung, Daniela Hornung
Human Reproduction · 2008 · vol. 23(5) , pp. 1053–1062 · doi:10.1093/humrep/den044 · PMID:18332088 · W2136865103
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 20 in-corpus citations
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Endometriosis tissues and cell lines express significantly higher L1CAM levels than control tissues, with L1CAM positivity more prevalent in atypical lesions, suggesting it promotes disease progression.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a benign and progressive disease with a high prevalence. Women with endometriosis, especially with atypical endometriosis, have a higher probability for developing ovarian cancer compared with women without endometriosis. The L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) is over expressed in ovarian and endometrial carcinomas and is associated with a bad prognosis. Here, we have analysed L1CAM expression in endometriosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: In our study with the samples from 79 patients with, and 37 patients without, endometriosis, we found that endometriosis cell lines and short-term cultures of endometrium from women with endometriosis expressed L1CAM at the mRNA and protein level. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that L1CAM was expressed at significantly higher level in the epithelial compartment from patients with endometriosis compared with healthy controls (P = 0.0126). By immunohistochemical staining, 15 of 31 ovarian endometriotic lesions (48%) were shown to have L1CAM-positive staining. Of these 15 L1CAM-positive samples, 13 were atypical endometriotic lesions. Soluble L1 present in the conditioned medium of epithelial endometrium cultures from women with endometriosis was able to stimulate neurite outgrowth as measured in a chicken ganglion assay. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that L1CAM could promote endometriosis development by increasing enervation and aggravation. L1CAM expression is higher in atypical endometriosis compared with normal endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1 ADAM10 Protein ADAM Proteins ADAM Proteins Adult Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases Animals Cells, Cultured Chick Embryo Culture Media Culture Media Endometriosis Female Humans Immunohistochemistry Membrane Proteins Membrane Proteins Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1

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