0020-7292/$ see front matter D 2006 International Federation of All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2005.12.028 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 055 4478138; fax: +39 055 4379868. E-mail address: mariarosaria.raspollini@unifi.it (M.R. Raspollini). and metastasis [1] while cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-2 expression has been related to immunomodulation [2] and neoangiogenesis [3]. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of MMPs and their correlation with COX-2 expression in endometrial carcinoma. mRNA expression of the MMP-2, MMP-9, and COX-2 genes was assessed in paraffin-embedded samples of endometrial carcinoma from 30 consecutive patients and non-neoplastic endometrial tissue from 20 matched controls. Endometrial carcinoma tissue samples were obtained from the uteruses of patients who had undergone total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingooophorectomy at the Department of Gynecology, Perinatology and Reproductive Medicine of the University of Florence School of Medicine, Florence, Italy. The patients, aged from 50 to 82 years (median, 62.5 years; mean, 62.1 years), had complete records of their clinical history and follow-up. Amplification of mRNA was detected by reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction assay and measured quantitatively. mRNAwas successfully extracted from 15 (75%) of the 20 control samples and 18 (60%) of the 30 tumor International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (2006) 93, 64—66