Abstract: Objective： To study of the secretion and expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF in endometrial stromal cells of patients with EMs. Methods：Ectopic endometrial tissues of EMs and eutopic endometrial tissues of patients with EMs or uterine fibroids were collected，then cultured endometrial cells by the methods of original digestion，the purified endometrial stromal cells were used for research，the secretion of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF proteins were tested by ELISA，and the expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. Results：There were no statistically significant differences of the expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF proteins and mRNA between the stage of secretion and proliferation in eutopic endometrial stromal cells in patients with EMs or uterine fibroid（P＞0.05）. The expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF proteins and mRNA were significantly increased in eutopic and ectopic endometrial stromal cells of EMs compared with patients with uterine fibroid，the difference was statistically significant（P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. The expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF proteins and mRNA in ectopic endometrial stromal cells were obviously higher than that in eutopic endometrial stromal cells of EMs，the difference was statistically significant（P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. Conclusions：The protein secretion and mRNA expression of COX-2，PGE2 and VEGF in eutopic and ectopic endometrial stromal cells were all increased and it showed that the ectopic cells increased more obviously. It indicated that the angiogenesis ability of ectopic endometrial stromal cells was stronger in the pathogenesis of EMs.

Key words: Endometriosis, Stromal cells, Cyclooxygenase 2, Prostaglandin E2, Vascular endothelial browth factors