Pyrvinium pamoate inhibits proliferation and invasion of human endometriotic stromal cells.

Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of functional endometrial tissue in other pelvic organs. This gynecologic problem occurs in 35-50% of women with pain and infertility. Endometriotic cells share some characteristics such as proliferation, migration, and invasion with tumor cells. Pyrvinium pamoate, an anthelmintic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, could inhibit the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway and its anticancer effects were examined by several researchers. In this study, 12 ectopic and eutopic endometrial biopsies from females with ovarian endometrioma and 12 endometrial biopsies from nonendometriotic females were obtained. Ectopic (EESCs), eutopic (EuESCs), and control (CESCs) endometrial stromal cells were isolated. Then, the effect of pyrvinium pamoate on the proliferation and invasiveness of in vitro cultured cells was evaluated. The proliferation of CESCs, EuESCs, and EESCs was significantly decreased after treatment with pyrvinium pamoate. In addition, treatment with pyrvinium pamoate significantly inhibited the invasiveness of CESCs, EuESCs, and EESCs compared to nontreated groups. The results of the present research showed that pyrvinium pamoate inhibits the proliferation and invasion of human endometriotic stromal cells in vitro, further investigations on the therapeutic potential of this compound in endometriosis are required.

Role of Wnt signaling on proliferation of menstrual blood derived stem cells.

AIM: Menstrual blood derived stem cells (MenSCs) are unique stem cells that have been isolated and identified recently. The special traits of MenSCs can be related to the cell signaling pathways. In this study, in order to find out the role of Wnt signaling on MenSCs proliferation, we evaluated ß-catenin expression as a key participant in Wnt signaling pathway in response to Lithium chloride (LiCl). METHODS: MenSCs were isolated from healthy women by combining gradient density centrifugation with plastic adherence. After characterization of the isolated cells, cell proliferation of MenSCs in presence of 10-15 mM LiCl was evaluated by MTT assay. ß-catenin expression of the treated cells was examined using immunofluorescence technique. RESULTS: Flow cytometric analysis revealed that both mesenchymal and embryonic stem cell markers are expressed on menstrual blood stem cells. MTT value decreased depending on the LiCl concentration. The proliferation of MenSCs cultivated in culture media containing 15mM LiCl was approximately two fold less than those grown without LiCl (p<0.01). Moreover, nuclear accumulation of ß-catenin protein in cells treated by LiCl was greater than cells without LiCl. CONCLUSION: The MenSCs are stem cell populations with high proliferation ability and unique immunophenotyping properties. Our results demonstrated that Wnt signaling pathway regulates MenSCs proliferation via trans-localization of activated-ß-catenin protein.