Abstract

Progesterone receptor (PR) variant mRNAs in human endometrium could encode proteins with the potential to alter progesterone action in states of normal and abnormal endometrial development. We have assessed the expression levels of mRNA for the wild-type PR and splice variants of PR mRNA lacking exon 4 (del-4 PR), exon 6 (del-6 PR), exons 4 and 6 (del-4&6 PR), and part of exon 4 (del-p4 PR) or part of exon 6 (del-p6 PR) in the human endometrium throughout menstrual cycle development. Eighty-eight endometrial specimens (47 proliferative, 41 secretory) were collected from patients undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynaecologic causes. Measurements by RT-PCR indicated that mRNAs for wild-type PR, and splice variants del-4 PR, del-6 PR, del-4&6 PR, del-p6 PR, and a novel del-p4 PR were detected in all endometrial specimens throughout the menstrual cycle. Higher levels of wild-type PR and all PR variant mRNAs were found in the early and mid-proliferative endometrial phases than in secretory endometrium. The relative expression of mRNA for all PR variants compared to wild-type PR mRNA, however, did not change through all stages of endometrial development. We, therefore, found no evidence of differential co-expression of the PR variants compared with wild-type PR during normal menstrual development. Future studies will determine if the expression profile of PR variant mRNAs will be different in the endometrium of patients with infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, or endometrial adenocarcinoma.