Survivin expression in endometriosis and normal human endometrium and effects of GnRH-a and COX-2 inhibitor on its expression.

Objective To investigate the role of survivin gene in the pathogenesis of endometriosis (EMs). Methods The expressions of survivin in endometriosis and normal endometrium tissue were determined ; the effects of GnRHa and COX-2 on the expression of survivin mRNA in endometriosis and normal endometrium in vitro and the effects of GnRHa and COX-2 on the apoptosis index in the cultured ectopie endometrial cells were investigated. Re-sults ①The expression of survivin mRNA was higher in patients with endometriosis than that of healthy controls (P 0.05). Conclusion ①The up-regulation of survivin mRNA expression may reduce the sensitivity of en-dometriotic cells to apeptosis. Elevated expression of survivin mRNA in ectopic endometrium may have important im-plications for the survival and proliferation of the ectopic endometrial tissue.②Both GnRHa and COX-2 can promote apoptosis by inhibiting survivin mRNA expression in ectopic endometrioma cells in vitro. Key words: Endometriosis;  Survivin;  In vitro cell culture;  GnRH-a;  COX-2 inhibitor