Abstract: Objective：To measure the expression levels of HOXA11 mRNA and protein in endometrial tissues of patients after radical trachelectomy (RT), and to investigate the effect of HOXA11 on endometrial receptivity. Methods: There were two groups in this study. The RT group included 16 infertile patients after RT treatment. Another group included 16 fertile patients after RT as control. The endometrial tissue was biopsied with the informed consent. The expression of HOXA11 mRNA in endometrial tissue was detected by real-time RT-PCR. The expression levels of HOXA11, Integrin-β3, β-catenin and DKK1 proteins were measured by Western blots. Results: The expression of HOXA11 mRNA in the RT infertile group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.05). The expression levels of HOXA11, Integrin-β3, β-catenin and DKK1 proteins in the RT infertile group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P＜0.05). Interestingly, the expression level of HOXA11 was positively correlated with the expression level of Intergin-β3, β-catenin or DKK1, respectively (P values were 0.006, 0.004 and 0.007). Conclusions: The expression of HOXA11 in endometrial tissue was significantly decreased in those infertile patients after RT, which down regulated the expression of integrin-β3 and the Wnt/β-catenin pathway related with endometrial receptivity. This is one of the possible mechanisms of the failed embryo implantation and infertile outcome.

Key words: Uterine cervical neoplasms, Radical trachelectomy, Endometrium, HOXA11, Oncogene proteins, Gene expression