Expression of alpha6 and beta4 integrin subunits on human endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and during early pregnancy

To evaluate the expression of alpha6 and beta4 integrin subunits on surface and glandular endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and during early pregnancy.

Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.

PATIENT(S): Thirty-two women. Nineteen of the women regularly menstruated in different phases of the cycle, and 13 were in the sixth to ninth week of gestation and required voluntary abortion.

INTERVENTION(S): Endometrial specimens collected during endometrial biopsy, hysterectomy, or voluntary abortion.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Immunohistochemical staining for alpha6 and beta4 integrin subunits in endometrial tissues.

RESULT(S): Both subunits (poorly expressed in preimplantation days) reached a significant peak on the endometrial surface during the implantation window, which tended to disappear in the postimplantation phase. On glandular endometrium they exhibited an opposite trend, showing high levels in the preimplantation and postimplantation days, whereas their expression decreased during the implantation window. The two subunits tended to disappear in early pregnancy.

CONCLUSION(S): alpha6 and beta4 integrin subunits are uniformly distributed and highly expressed on the endometrial surface during the implantation window; they decreased dramatically in the postimplantation phase. These results could suggest involvement of integrin-extracellular matrix components in blastocyst-endometrium interaction during the early stages of implantation.