RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reason why the incidence of endometriosis (EM) is lower in the Uygur women than in the Han women. METHODS: Eutopic and ectopic endometrium samples were obtained by operation and biopsy from 26 EM patients, 10 Uygur women and 16 Han women and analyzed with a gene expression microarray containing the cDNAs of 22 000 human genes. Twenty-two women, 10 Uygur and 12 Han, were used as controls. RESULTS: Eleven differentially expressed genes, 7 up-regulated and 6 down-regulated, were screened out from the eutopic endometrium of the Uygur women with EM. 58 differential expressed genes were screened out from the in eutopic endometrium of the Han women with EM, 53 being up-regulated and 5 down-regulated. Five genes were screened out in both groups, 3 being up-regulated and 2 down-regulated. CONCLUSION: The number of differentially expressed genes of the Uygur women with EM is lower than that of the Han women with EM, which may be the cause of relative low incidence of EM among Uygur women.