Telocytes enhanced the proliferation, adhesion and motility of endometrial stromal cells as mediated by the ERK pathway in vitro.

Telocytes enhanced the proliferation, adhesion and motility of endometrial stromal cells as mediated by the ERK pathway in vitro.
Am J Transl Res. 2019;11(2):572-585
Authors: Tang XL, Zhang FL, Jiang XJ, Yang XJ
Abstract
Telocytes (TCs) is special interstitial cell that have recently been identified in the female reproductive system. Endometriosis (EMs) is a benign gynecological disease whose etiology is still not fully clear. Implantation and proliferation of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) out of the uterus are essential processes in the development of EMs. Herein, we investigate the in vitro changes of ESCs when cocultured with TCs, and the potential mechanisms involved. The current results demonstrated that, vimentin-positive/pan cytokeratin-negative ESCs, and TCs with a characteristic structure and immunophenotype (CD34/vimentin double-positive) were successfully isolated and harvested. Morphologically, direct cell-to-cell contacts were observed between TCs and ESCs. Quantitatively, TCs treatment clearly promotes the viability of ESCs, enhances cell cycle progression at G2/M phase and upregulates p-ERK1/2 and cyclin-D3 (all P < 0.05). Functionally, ESCs educated by TCs displayed significantly enhanced adhesion ability and accelerated invasion and migration capacity (all P < 0.05). However, no significant changes were found in the rate of apoptosis and in the expression of AKT signaling pathway proteins in TCs-educated ESC...

Source: American Journal of Translational Research - March 24, 2019 Category: Research Tags: Am J Transl Res Source Type: research