{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T11:28:01Z","timestamp":1785583681713,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,20]],"date-time":"2023-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1689811200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Chronic endometritis (CE) is a persistent inflammatory condition of the endometrium characterized by the infiltration of plasma cells in the endometrial stroma. CD138 immunohistochemistry is considered to improve the CE diagnosis rate.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Using the number of CD138-positive cells equal or greater than five as a diagnostic criterion for CE, we identified 24 CE and 33 non-CE cases among women with infertility. We conducted RNA-sequencing analysis for these 57 cases in total as an attempt to elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of CE and to search for new biomarkers for CE.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results and Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>By comparing CE and non-CE groups, we identified 20 genes upregulated in the endometria of CE patients, including 12 immunoglobulin-related genes and eight non-immunoglobulin genes as differentially expressed genes. The eight genes were <jats:italic>MUC5AC<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>LTF<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>CAPN9<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>MESP1<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>ACSM1<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>TVP23A<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>ALOX15<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>MZB1<\/jats:italic>. By analyzing samples in the proliferative and secretory phases of the menstrual cycle separately, we also identified four additional non-immunoglobulin genes upregulated in CE endometria: <jats:italic>CCDC13<\/jats:italic> by comparing the samples in the proliferative phase, and <jats:italic>OVGP1<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>MTUS2<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>CLIC6<\/jats:italic> by comparing the samples in the secretory phase. Although the genes upregulated in CE may serve as novel diagnostic markers of CE, many of them were upregulated only in a limited number of CE cases showing an extremely high number of CD138-positive cells near or over one hundred. Exceptionally, <jats:italic>TVP23A<\/jats:italic> was upregulated in the majority of CE cases regardless of the number of <jats:italic>CD138<\/jats:italic>-positive cells. The upregulation of <jats:italic>TVP23A<\/jats:italic> in the endometria of CE cases may reflect the pathophysiology of a cell-type or cell-types intrinsic to the endometrium rather than the accumulation of plasma cells. Our data, consisting of clinical and transcriptomic information for CE and non-CE cases, helped us identify gene expression signatures associated with CE.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2023.1185284","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,20]],"date-time":"2023-07-20T15:13:49Z","timestamp":1689866029000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Gene expression signatures associated with chronic endometritis revealed by RNA 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