Studies on leptin and leptin receptor gene expression in myometrium and uterine myomas of gnRH analogue-treated women.

AIM: To test if treatment with GnRH analogue, which leads to a significant reduction in myoma volume, changes expression of leptin genes and gene coding leptin receptor isoforms in uterine myomas and in the surrounding unaltered myometrium.

METHODS

Using RT-PCR, expression of leptin genes and leptin receptor genes was studied in myomas and in the surrounding myometrium in women with uterine myomas, untreated or treated with GnRH analogue. In the randomly selected cases presence of leptin protein and of leptin receptor proteins was examined also by Western blotting.

RESULTS

Expression of leptin genes was demonstrated both in myomas and in the surrounding myometrium, and a similar pattern of expression was found for leptin receptor isoforms. The results of RT-PCR were confirmed by Western blotting, which documented the identical distribution of leptin proteins and leptin receptor proteins in studied tissues. Treatment with GnRH analogue had no effect on the expression pattern of studied genes.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study on the administration of GnRH analogue to females with myomas suggest that no direct or immediate inter-relationship exists between expression of leptin genes in uterine myomas on one hand and estrogen, progesterone and leptin levels in the blood on the other. Expression seems to be of a more durable nature but factors that induce such expression remain unknown.