Objective: To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in human lower segments of myometrium obtained from women in labor and those not in labor and identify the splice variant of COX-2.
Methods: Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for investigating the expression of COX-2. According to the sequence of rat COX-2 splice variant, the primers were designed and synthesized, then the splice variant of COX-2 in human myometrium from woman in labor was identified, cloned into vector and sequenced.
Results: The results showed that (1) The Expression of COX-2 mRNA was lower in human myometrium obtained from women who were not in labor than those in labor. (2) A new band of COX-2 was obtained in myometrium from a woman in labor. The fragment includes an unspliced intron, which locates between exons 7 and 8.
Conclusion: COX-2 gene is not only expressed highly in human myometrium from women in labor, but also produced splicing variant by alternative splicing.