Serdar E. Bulun

RESEARCH QUESTION: Does pretreatment with a gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist and an aromatase inhibitor (PRET) improve live birth rates in individuals with endometriosis, adenomyosis, or both, undergoing frozen embryo transfer…

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic inflammatory syndrome characterized by viable endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and associated with pain and infertility. Endometriosis, as tissue or a pathological process, is dyna…

OBJECTIVE: Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1) is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of saturated delta-9 fatty acids to monounsaturated fatty acids. SCD1 is highly expressed in various cancers and facilitates cancer cell survival, tumor gr…

Approximately 77.4% of uterine leiomyomas carry MED12 gene mutations (mut-MED12), which are specifically associated with strikingly upregulated expression and activity of the tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO2) enzyme, leading to increased co…

OBJECTIVE: To assess the cellular and molecular landscape of adenomyosis. DESIGN: Single-cell analysis of genome-wide messenger RNA (mRNA) expression (single-cell RNA sequencing) of matched tissues of endometrium, adenomyosis, and myometri…

Endometriosis and adenomyosis are closely related disorders. Their pathophysiologies are extremely similar. Both tissues originate from the eutopically located intracavitary endometrium. Oligoclones of endometrial glandular epithelial cells…

Uterine leiomyomas cause heavy menstrual bleeding, anemia, and pregnancy loss in millions of women worldwide. Driver mutations in the transcriptional mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) gene in uterine myometrial cells initiate 70% of leiom…

BACKGROUND: Uterine leiomyomas, also known as uterine fibroids or myomas, are the most common benign gynecological tumors and are found in women of reproductive and postmenopausal age. There is an exceptionally high prevalence of this tumor…

Fibroid etiology is poorly understood but is likely hormonally mediated. Therefore, we evaluated associations between midlife phthalates (hormone-altering chemicals) and prior fibroid diagnosis, and considered differences by weight gain sta…

Objective: Using a baboon model, we determined the changing expression of Retinoic Acid (RA) target genes during the menstrual cycle and during disease progression. This change could explain the cellular response and changes characteristic …

BACKGROUND: Adenomyosis, characterized by the presence of islands of endometrial tissue surrounded by hypertrophic smooth muscle cells within the myometrium, is one of the most challenging uterine disorders in terms of diagnosis and managem…

Worldwide, ∼196 million are afflicted with endometriosis, a painful disease in which endometrial tissue implants and proliferates on abdominal peritoneal surfaces. Theories on the origin of endometriosis remained inconclusive. Whereas up to…

Uterine leiomyoma (LM) is the most common tumor in women. Via its receptor (PGR) expressed in differentiated LM cells, progesterone stimulates paracrine signaling that induces proliferation of PGR-deficient LM stem cells (LSCs). Antiprogest…

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the gene targets of estradiol (E2)-estrogen receptor-α (ESR1) in human endometrial stromal cells. DESIGN: Basic science. SETTING: University research center. PATIENT(S): Premenopausal women with or without endom…

Women's health concerns are generally underrepresented in basic and translational research, but reproductive health in particular has been hampered by a lack of understanding of basic uterine and menstrual physiology. Menstrual health is an…

Mullerian adenosarcoma (MAS) is a biphasic tumor with malignant stroma. It is most commonly of endometrial origin but occasionally originates in the cervix, ovary, or other pelvic/peritoneal sites. The typical MAS is low grade with an indol…

Pelvic endometriosis is a complex syndrome characterized by an estrogen-dependent chronic inflammatory process that affects primarily pelvic tissues, including the ovaries. It is caused when shed endometrial tissue travels retrograde into t…

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is recognized as a steroid-dependent disorder; however, the precise roles of nuclear receptors (NRs) in steroid responsiveness and other signaling pathways are not well understood. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: Over th…

Epidemiologic and histopathologic associations between endometriosis and epithelial ovarian cancer have been reported; however, the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms are not well understood. A possible genetic link has been sugge…