{"paper_id":"2c31a6ce-db06-4e31-a4e6-90b5816207fa","body_text":"Abstract\nIntroduction\nEndometriosis is a risk factor for low-grade serous, clear cell, and endometroid ovarian carcinoma. In both endometriosis and ovarian carcinoma, immunological factors are associated with clinical outcome. Chronic inflammation in endometriosis may be linked to tumorigenesis, but exact processes contributing to endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma remain unknown. This review aims to describe potential immunological factors involved in the malignant transformation of endometriosis into ovarian carcinoma.\nMethods\nPubMed and Embase were searched from inception up to October 2020 for studies comparing immunological processes in endometriosis and endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma.\nResults\nDetailed analysis of immune components in the malignant transformation of endometriosis into endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma is lacking. Altered levels of chemokines and cytokines as IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α are reported and the function, number and polarization of NK cells, dendritic cells, and monocytes differ between endometriosis and associated ovarian carcinoma compared to healthy tissue. In addition, altered inflammasome and complement systems, indicate a role for the immune system in the carcinogenesis of endometriosis.\nConclusion\nChronic inflammation in endometriosis may potentially drive inflammation-induced carcinogenesis in endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma. Exact immunological pathways and cellular processes remain unknown and require more thorough investigation.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nData availability\nAll articles used are published full text articles.\nAbbreviations\n- AE:\n-\nAtypical endometriosis\n- CCC:\n-\nClear cell carcinoma\n- EAOC:\n-\nEndometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma.\n- EC:\n-\nEndometrioid carcinoma\n- EOC:\n-\nEpithelial ovarian carcinoma\n- LGSC:\n-\nLow-grade serous carcinoma\n- OvCa:\n-\nOvarian carcinoma\nReferences\nReid F, Bhatla N, Jones A (2018) The world ovarian cancer coalition atlas (trans: Study TEW). World Ovarian Cancer Coalition, United Kingdom\nMomenimovahed Z, Tiznobaik A, Taheri S, Salehiniya H (2019) Ovarian cancer in the world: epidemiology and risk factors. Int J Womens Health 11:287–299. https://doi.org/10.2147/ijwh.s197604\nMatulonis UA, Sood AK, Fallowfield L, Howitt BE, Sehouli J, Karlan BY (2016) Ovarian cancer. 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Surg Oncol Clin N Am 28(3):447–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soc.2019.02.002\nFunding\nThis study did not receive any funding.\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nContributions\nRB and EE were responsible for the study initiative and study design. SL and MH conducted the literature search and performed the selection of manuscripts. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.\nCorresponding author\nEthics declarations\nConflict of interest\nAll authors declare that they had no conflict of interest.\nEthical approval\nThis article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.\nAdditional information\nPublisher's Note\nSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.\nTo our knowledge, this is the first review carried out that focusses solely on immunological factors involved in malignant transformation from endometriosis to associated ovarian carcinoma.\nAppendix\nAppendix\nSearch specifics and exclusion protocol.\nRights and permissions\nAbout this article\nCite this article\nLeenen, S., Hermens, M., de Vos van Steenwijk, P.J. et al. Immunologic factors involved in the malignant transformation of endometriosis to endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinoma. Cancer Immunol Immunother 70, 1821–1829 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02831-1\nReceived:\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nVersion of record:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02831-1","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}