Analysis on expression characteristics of CD38 and CD138 in endometria of patients with failed in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer and their associations with chronic endometritis

MIAO Jun; XUE Pingping; ZHU Li; Baktnur Kenjekul; ZHUANG Jing

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-3806.2025.11.14

Abstract：Objective To analyze the expression characteristics of CD38 and CD138 in endometria of patients with failed in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer(IVF-ET)and their correlations with chronic endometritis(CE).Methods A total of 114 patients who underwent IVF-ET but failed to conceive in Changzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from April 2023 to September 2024 were recruited.All the patients underwent hysteroscopy and their endometrial tissues were obtained.The endometrial tissues of the patients were stained by using hematoxylin-eosin(HE)and the pathological typing was performed.The expressions of CD38 and CD138 were detected by using immunohistochemical staining,and according to the detection results the patients were divided into CD38+/CD138+group(34 cases),CD38+/CD138-group(37 cases),CD38-/CD138+group(23 cases)and CD38-/CD138-group(20 cases).The associations of the expressions of CD38 and CD138 with the occurrence of CE as well as the pregnancy outcomes of the patients who received assisted reproduction after doxycycline treatment were analyzed.Results In the 114 patients,the incidence of CE was 38.60％(44/114).There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of CE among the four groups(P＜0.05),with the highest incidence of CE in the CD38+/CD138+group(70.59％).The difference in the proportion of normal endometria was statistically significant among the four groups(P＜0.05),with the highest normal rate(55.00％)in the CD38-/CD138-group.Among the 94 patients treated with doxycycline,48 patients(51.06％)became pregnant after assisted reproduction.The pregnancy rates of the CD38+/CD138+group,the CD38+/CD138-group and the CD38-/CD138+group were 35.29％(12/34),67.57％(25/37)and 47.83％(11/23),respectively.There was a statistically significant difference in the pregnancy rate among the three groups(x2=7.513,P=0.023),and the pregnancy rate of the CD38+/CD138+group was significantly lower than that of the CD38+/CD138-group(x2=7.395,P=0.007).The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that CD38+/CD138+was an independent risk factor for pregnancy failure in patients after they received doxycycline treatment[OR(95％CI)=3.749(1.093-12.862),P=0.036].Conclusion The expressions of CD38 and CD138 are related to the occurrence of CE in patients with failed IVF-ET implantation and have impacts on the therapeutic effect of doxycycline.The individualized treatment strategies carried out on the basis of these results may help to improve the pregnancy outcomes of the patients.