Introduction and hypothesis: The aim of the study was to identify the differential expression of estrogen-related genes that may be involved in the menopause and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) using microarray analysis.
Methods: An age, parity, and menopausal status-matched case-control study with 12 POP patients and 5 non-POP patients was carried out. The study was conducted from January to December 2010 at Yonsei University, Severance Hospital. We examined microarray gene expression profiles in uterosacral ligaments (USLs) from POP and non-POP patients. Total RNA was extracted from USL samples to generate labeled cDNA, which was hybridized to microarrays and analyzed for the expression of 44,049 genes. We identified differentially expressed genes and performed functional clustering. After clustering, we focused on transcriptional response and signal transduction gene clusters, which are associated with estrogen, and then validated the changes of gene expression levels observed with the microarray analysis using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Results: The data from the microarray analysis using more than a 1.5-fold change with p value <0.05 resulted in 143 upregulated genes and 87 downregulated genes. Of 59 genes identified to be associated with signal transduction and transcription, 4 genes were chosen for qPCR that have been classified to be associated with estrogen. We found that estrogen receptor-related receptor-α (ERRα) was downregulated and that the expression of death-associated protein kinase 2 (DAPK 2), signal-transducing adaptor protein-2 (STAP-2), and interleukin (IL)-15 were upregulated.
Conclusions: We found four differentially expressed genes by microarray analysis that may account for the way in which changes in estrogen level affect POP pathophysiology.