ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Endometriosis is a hormone-dependent disease characterized by ectopic presence of endometrial tissue responsive to ovarian steroids. Estrogen and progesterone are the main regulators of endometrial tissue, and the expression of receptors of these hormones in the ectopic tissue seems to be related to the pathophysiology of the disease. Ki-67 is a marker of tissue proliferation and an important marker of epithelial kinetics. Endometriosis can be classified as superficial, in the peritoneum, and deep, when it extends into ligaments and other organs.
Objective:
Our objective was to analyze the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and Ki-67, through immunohistochemistry, in different sites of endometriosis tissues (superficial peritoneal/ovarian endometriosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis).
Casuistic and methods:
We studied nine patients; five with superficial and four with deep endometriosis. Statistical correlation was performed with the Shapiro-Wilk test (significance level of 5%) and linear correlation analysis using Spearman’s non-parametric test (significance of 1%). There was a correlation of Spearman between the estrogen receptor variable and Ki-67 in patients with superficial endometriosis. There was also a correlation between the variables estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor in patients with deep endometriosis.
Results:
Contrary to what was found for superficial endometriosis, there is linear increase of the variables, with a strong and positive correlation coefficient. This demonstrates that the variation of estrogen receptors can be explained in 99.1% by the same variation of progesterone receptors in deep endometriosis.
Conclusion:
It is possible to infer that other factors are involved in the response to hormonal variations for superficial and deep endometriosis.
Key words:
endometriosis; estrogen receptors; progesterone receptors; Ki-67 antigen