Immunohistochemical studies on lymphocyte subpopulation in endometrium samples in women with infertility

Abstract

Uterine leucocytes have been thought to play a key role in endometrial pathology and infertility.

The aim of this study was to compare the amount of  CD20+, CD3+, CD56+, CD138+ cells in the endometrium from women with simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia and thin endometrium with the presence of infertility. 95 patients, with simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia, thin endometrium, and women without endometrial pathology (controls) were selected as research subjects. Hematoxylin and eosin staining were performed on all endometrial biopsies. Immunohistochemical staining for CD20+, CD3+, CD56+, CD138+  cells was applied to all tissue samples. Additionally, the disease histories of patients were collected, were held clinical and laboratory tests. The number of CD20+ cells was higher in 1 group (4,129±0,55) and 2 group (5,872±0,85), compared to fertile patients (1,353±0,16, p<0.05). The ratio of CD3+ cells was higher in women with endometrial hyperplasia (108,871±14,34) and lower in women with a thin endometrium (36,388±3,83), compared to fertile patients (72,848±6,11, p<0.05). The study shows a notable increase of CD138+ in specimens with hyperplasia (19,18±1,2) and thin endometrium (20,81±1.45) compared to fertile patients (1,02±0,5, p<0.05 in both cases), and decreased of CD56-positive cells in stroma (43,4±2,2; 33.6±2.8) and in glands (7,4±1,2; 3.6±1,8) for hyperplasia and thin endometrium respectively compared to control group (51,2±2,5; 14,8±0,9). Women, with endometrial hyperplasia, have larger populations of CD20+, CD3+, and CD138+ and decreased amount of CD56+ in the stroma and glandular cells, as for women with thin endometrium, they have large populations of CD20+ and CD138+ and small of CD3+, CD56+, but bough groups may be at greater risk for infertility disorders resulting from an inflammatory environment occurring during implantation or later during decidualization.