Immunohistochemical study of hemoglobin-related proteins in endometrium from fertile and infertile women

Sammanfattning: In couples diagnosed with unexplained infertility, the woman has normal ovulatory cycles and no organic pathology, and the man has normal semen. The period during which the implantation of an embryo can occur is defined as the window of implantation (WOI). For infertile women, disturbances in the endometrium maturation are hypothesized to impair the uterine receptivity for embryo implantaition. However, there are still no methods found to predict endometrial receptivity. Hemoglobin related-proteins hypothesized to be involved in embryo implantation have been found in the endometrium in both fertile and infertile women. The aim of this study was to determine whether there were differences in the expression of hemoglobin-related proteins, hemoglobin-α, cytoglobin, fetal hemoglobin and haptoglobin in the endometrium of fertile and infertile women. Immunohistchemical staining was used. Haptoglobin showed negative expression in glands, luminal epithelium and strong expression in stroma for both gruops. The expression of the hemoglobin-related proteins, hemoglobin-α, cytoglobin, fetal hemoglobin intensity were stronger in fertile than infertile women. More studies are required to find other factors that may have an effect on fertility.