Expression and localization of matrilysin, a matrix metalloproteinase, in human endometrium during the reproductive cycle.

We studied the expression of a matrix metalloproteinase, matrilysin, in the human endometrium to determine whether metalloproteinase genes are expressed during the reproductive cycle. Matrix metalloproteinases are a tightly regulated family of enzymes that degrade components of the extracellular matrix and basement membrane; they play important roles in growth and development and in invasion and metastasis of tumors and thus are likely enzymes participating in the dynamic structural changes occurring in endometrium during the reproductive cycle.