To investigate whether polymorphism of gene encoding estrogen receptor-α is associated with the risk of endometriosis in Korean women.

We investigated 136 patients with histopathologically confirmed endometriosis rAFS stage III/IV and 251 control group women who were surgically proven to have no endometriosis. Polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of PCR products were done to determine each participant's estrogen receptor-α genotype.

The distridution according to PvuII genetic polymorphism of estrogen receptor-α were as follows. PP, Pp and pp were 14.7%(20 women), 39.0%(53 women) and 46.3%(63 women) in the study group and 13.9%(35 women), 38.6%(98 women) and 47.4%(119 women) in the control group, respectively. There was no significant difference between the study group and the control group.

The results suggest that estrogen receptor-α genetic polymorphism may not be associated with the development of endometriosis in Korean women.