Moesin overexpression is a unique biomarker of adenomyosis.
Adenomyosis is characterized by extension of endometrial glands and stromal cells into the myometrium. Here we proved that 'moesin' is a unique biomarker of adenomyosis. We selected two cases of adenomyosis that had been surgically resected and fixed with formalin. Proteins were extracted from the infiltrating adenomyosis lesions and normal endometrium by tissue microdissection. The extracted proteins were examined using a LC-MS/MS system and the expression profiles of each region were compared. Two hundred and sixty proteins were detected, among which 73 were expressed more in adenomyosis than in normal endometrium. Among these proteins, we focused on overexpression of moesin in adenomyosis. Expression of moesin estimated semiquantitatively using an immunohistochemistry score was higher in adenomyosis than in normal endometrium. In particular, moesin was significanly overexpressed in stromal cells of adenomyosis than in those of normal endometrium. Relative to normal endometrium, moesin was also overexpressed at the RNA level in 9 of 14 cases of adenomyosis and at the protein level in all 14 cases. We also detected activated (phosphorylated) moesin in adenomyosis lesions. The present findings suggest that moesin is characteristically overexpressed and activated in adenomyosis, and that moesin activation may be related to extension of adenomyosis in the myometrium.
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba-shi, Japan; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba-shi, Japan.
Rena
R
Ohara
Hiroo
H
Michikami
Yuko
Y
Nakamura
Akiko
A
Sakata
Shingo
S
Sakashita
Kaishi
K
Satomi
Aya
A
Shiba-Ishii
Junko
J
Kano
Hiroyuki
H
Yoshikawa
Masayuki
M
Noguchi
D062788:Adenomyosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D004717:Endometrium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009215:Myometrium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010766:Phosphorylation
D015415:Biomarkers; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C071058:moesin
LC-MS/MS analysis; adenomyosis; invasion; moesin