Endometrial proliferative processes in postmenopausal patients and steroid transcriptome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Is there an association?

Objective. To study the receptor profile of pathological endometrial tissue and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in postmenopausal patients with endometrial proliferative processes (EPPs) and to determine the possible association between hormone-dependent and immune mechanisms of proliferation development. Patients and methods. The study included 85 postmenopausal patients with endometrial pathology: atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) (n = 8), adenocarcinoma (AC) (n = 40), endometrial polyps (EP) (n = 37). The comparison group for the study of PBMCs were 10 healthy postmenopausal women. The expression levels of ERa, ERb, mER, PRA, PRB, mPR, PGRmC1 were evaluated in the endometrial tissue and PBMCs by real-time PCR. Results. The group of AEH showed high expression levels of ERb, PRA, PRB, mPR and low ERa in tissue compared to EP group; higher PRA, mPR, PGRmC1 in tissue were detected in AEH group compared to AC. In PBMCs, AEH group had higher ERa, mER, PRA compared to healthy women. Conclusion. The results of this study suggest that receptor transcriptome of EPP changes not only in pathological tissue, but also in immunocompetent cells, which, on the one hand, may contribute to the preservation of pathological tissue by suppressing the anti-tumor activity of cells, and, on the other hand, may potentially explain the ineffectiveness of hormone therapy. Key words: endometrial proliferative processes, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial polyp, endometrial cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, receptivity, pathogenesis, postmenopause