title: Is endometrial receptivity transcriptomics affected in women with endometriosis? A pilot study.
abstract: Endometrial receptivity is still questioned today in women with endometriosis. The aim of this study was to assess the endometrial receptivity gene signature in patients with different stages of endometriosis by investigating transcriptomic modifications of their endometrium using the endometrial receptivity array (ERA) test. A prospective, interventional multicentre pilot trial was designed and implemented in two university-affiliated infertility units from Belgium and Spain. Gene expression microarray was used to diagnose the receptivity status by quantifying the expression of 238 specific genes directly related to human endometrial receptivity. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering showed no clustering of samples based on endometriosis stages. Two subgroups of samples clustered together corresponding on the day of the cycle in which the biopsy was taken (day 18 versus days 19-20). None of the 238 genes present in the ERA array were significantly over- or under- expressed in any of different stages of the disease compared with controls. Minimal differences were found when looking at the functional profile, suggesting that the possible effect from a clinical point of view may be meaningless. Endometrial receptivity gene signature during the implantation window does not vary significantly among patients with endometriosis even considering different stages compared with healthy women.
authors.affiliation: IVI-Madrid, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: juan.garcia.velasco@ivi.es.
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Garcia-Velasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Leuven University Fertility Centre, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Development and Regeneration, Organ Systems, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Amelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fassbender
authors.affiliation: IVIOMICS, Parque Científico Universidad de Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Alonso
authors.affiliation: IVIOMICS, Parque Científico Universidad de Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blesa
authors.affiliation: IVI-Madrid, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Leuven University Fertility Centre, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: D'Hooghe
authors.affiliation: IVIOMICS, Parque Científico Universidad de Valencia, Spain; Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (FIVI), Valencia University, Spain; Instituto Universitario IVI/INCLIVA, Spain; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004717:Endometrium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: endometrial receptivity; endometriosis; gene array