Role of Apoptosis in the Development of Uterine Leiomyoma

Abstract

To describe gene expression patterns of the apoptotic regulatory genes Bcl and Bax in human uterine leiomyoma tissue. To investigate the relationship between alterations of gene expression patterns and several relevant clinical parameters. We obtained samples from 101 cases undergoing surgery for uterine leiomyoma for gene expression analysis of the Bcl-2 and Bax genes. Gene expression was quantified using RT-PCR technique. In the leiomyoma group, the Bcl-2 gene was significantly overexpressed compared with the control group although there was no such difference in the gene expression of Bax. Gene activity of Bcl-2 positively correlated with the tumor number in individual uterine leiomyoma cases. Although there was no significant correlation between the length of the cumulative lactation period before the development of uterine leiomyoma and Bcl-2 gene expression in the leiomyoma tissue, we observed a trend for a shorter cumulative lactation period to be associated with overexpression of the Bcl-2 gene. Overexpression of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 gene appeared to be a factor in the development of uterine leiomyoma, whereas gene activity of the proapoptotic Bax gene did not seem to play a role in the process.

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“…On the other hand, the overexpression of Bax results in accelerated programmed cell death. According to previous studies, the anti-apoptotic mechanism seems to be involved in the development of uterine leiomyoma; several studies have demonstrated that the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene was significantly over-expressed in uterine leiomyoma compared to homologous myometrium [40], and can even be influenced by the endocrine environment [41]. A previous study demonstrated that the inhibition of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2/Bcl-xL promoted apoptotic cell death [42].…”