Objective: The purpose of this study was to
investigate the role of fibulin-5 in the transforming growth factor beta
(TGF-)/Smad signaling pathway by measuring the differential expression
of fibulin-5, TGF-, and Smad2/3 in the connective tissue of the vaginal
anterior wall of Uyghur women with pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
Methods: Thirty-six Uyghur patients diagnosed with POP, who
were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University
from March 2015 to June 2018, were enrolled in the study. In the same period, 15
patients with benign uterine hysterectomy were included in the control group. The
relative protein expression levels of fibulin-5,
Smad2/3, TGF-1, TGF-RI, and
TGF-RII in the anterior vaginal wall of each group were determined by
immunohistochemistry, quantitative PCR, and Western
blotting. Results: Immunohistochemistry showed that the
expression levels of Smad2/3, fibulin-5, TGF-1, TGF-RI, and
TGF-RII were significantly lower in the POP group than in the control
group (P 0.05). RT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression levels of
TGF-1, TGF-RI, TGF-RII, and fibulin-5 were
significantly lower in the POP group, with statistical significance (P 0.05), whereas the expression of Smad2 and Smad3 decreased, but without
statistical significance (P 0.05). Western blot analysis showed that
the expression of TGF-1, TGF-RI, TGF-RII,
fibulin-5, and phosphorylated Smad2/3 was significantly lower
in the POP group than in the control group (P 0.05), but there was
no difference in Smad2/3 protein expression compared with the control (P 0.05). Conclusion: The amount of functional elastic fibers
in the pelvic connective tissue structure of POP patients decreased via
involvement of the TGF-/Smad signaling pathway. Future studies are
needed to confirm the pathogenesis of POP.