1Diaa M. El-Mowafi and
2Umnia A. El-Hendy.
1Obstetrics
and Gynecology and 2Microbiology and Immunology Departments, Benha
Faculty of Medicine, Egypt.
Apoptosis is a natural
physiological mechanism that leads to death of unwanted cells. Bcl-2 is a
protein that inhibits apoptosis. Recent studies have shown a strong correlation
between bcl-2 and estrogen-receptor expression in both normal and neoplastic
breast epithelium. Many investigators have suggested that estrogen plays an
important role in the development of uterine leiomyoma. In this study, we
validated and evaluated ELISA to quantify bcl-2 protein in tissues of
leiomyoma, myometrium from which the leiomyoma was developed and healthy
control myometrium. The results were compared with that of western blot
technique. Bcl-2 concentration in myomatous tissues was statistically higher
than that of the control myometrium (P < 0.001). Bcl-2 was statistically higher in leiomyoma when compared to
the myometrium from which the leiomyoma was developed (P < 0.001). The sensitivity of ELISA was higher
than that of the western technique. It is concluded that the abundant
expression of bcl-2 oncoprotein in leiomyoma relative to that of normal
myometrium may be one of the molecular bases for the enhanced growth of
leiomyoma. Anti-bcl-2 therapy may be used in selected cases to avoid surgical
treatment of fibroids particularly if multiple and/or huge especially in
infertile patients. ELISA is recommended for quantitative determination of
bcl-2 concentration.