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Department of Biology, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762, USA
¹ Institute of Maternal-Fetal Biology and Division of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to V Rider; Email: VRider{at}pittstate.edu)

Differentiation of uterine stromal cells is critical for the establishment of pregnancy. This study had two purposes: (i) to validate the use of the UIII rat uterine stromal cell model for investigating mechanisms underlying decidual cell differentiation, and (ii) to use this cell model to identify a molecular switch for cellular entry into the decidual cell differentiation pathway. Quiescent rat uterine stromal cells were transfected with a 500 bp segment of the decidual prolactin-related protein (dPRP) promoter ligated to a luciferase reporter gene. Cells were incubated in low-serum medium, or in low-serum medium containing progesterone (1 µM), estradiol 17-ß (10 nM), cholera toxin (10 ng/ml) and interleukin-11 (10 ng/ml). Protein extracts were collected 48 h later and luciferase was measured in the cellular lysates. Cholera toxin and interleukin-11 stimulated luciferase expression (P< 0.05) and addition of sex steroids further increased (P< 0.05) dPRP promoter activity. Stromal cells did not proliferate (P< 0.05) under differentiation conditions. Deletion analysis of the dPRP promoter revealed maximal luciferase expression between –250 and –500 bp relative to the transcription start site. Comparison of cyclin E/Cdk2 activity between proliferating and differentiating cells showed a 3-fold increase (P< 0.05) at 12 h in differentiating cells. The results suggest that cyclin E/Cdk2 serves as a molecular switch for uterine stromal cell entry into the decidual cell differentiation pathway.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. M. K. Alam, T. Konno, N. Sahgal, L. Lu, and M. J. Soares Decidual Cells Produce a Heparin-binding Prolactin Family Cytokine with Putative Intrauterine Regulatory Actions J. Biol. Chem., July 4, 2008; 283(27): 18957 - 18968. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. Rider, K. Isuzugawa, M. Twarog, S. Jones, B. Cameron, K. Imakawa, and J. Fang Progesterone initiates Wnt-{beta}-catenin signaling but estradiol is required for nuclear activation and synchronous proliferation of rat uterine stromal cells J. Endocrinol., December 1, 2006; 191(3): 537 - 548. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]