Human Reproduction

BACKGROUND: In this study, we characterized the fibromuscular (FM) tissue, typical of deeply infiltrating endometriosis, investigated which cells are responsible for the FM reaction and evaluated whether transforming growth factor-beta (TGF…

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) may contribute to endometriosis. We tested whether eight functional polymorphisms of these genes could modify the risk of endometriosis. METHODS: In this case-control study, 227 endometriosis an…

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis occurs in 10% of women and is currently diagnosed by invasive laparoscopic testing. We tested the hypothesis that endometrial gene expression in late secretory phase endometrium differs between patients with and wi…

BACKGROUND: The role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of endometriosis remains elusive. It has been shown that patients have an altered peritoneal environment with increased levels of inflammatory cytokines, activated macrophages an…

BACKGROUND: The influence of previous conservative surgery for endometriomas on IVF-ICSI outcome is debated. Conflicting information emerging from the literature may be consequent to the fact that endometriomas are mostly monolateral. The c…

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a benign and progressive disease with a high prevalence. Women with endometriosis, especially with atypical endometriosis, have a higher probability for developing ovarian cancer compared with women without endo…

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is considered to be an inflammatory disease, and macrophages are the most numerous immune cells in endometriotic lesions. However, the mechanisms underlying the elevation of macrophages and their role in the pathog…

The classic, unproven dogma that ovarian endometrioma should be removed in all infertile women prior to IVF has been recently questioned. There is currently insufficient data to clarify whether the endometrioma-related damage to ovarian res…

BACKGROUND: Menstruation is associated with a striking increase in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. However, it is still unknown whether the level of MMP activity correlates with the amount of menstrual bleeding. METHODS: We used h…

BACKGROUND: Activation of macrophages is central to the implantation of endometriosis (EM). We examined the hypothesis that macrophage depletion by intraperitoneal (IP) injection of liposomal alendronate (LA) could result in EM attenuation …

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of IVF over expectant management has been proven only for bilateral tubal occlusion. We aimed to estimate the chance of pregnancy without treatment for IVF patients, using data on the waiting period before the …

BACKGROUND: Transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) has important advantages compared with transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS): it is less invasive, is cost-effective, is a familiar and well-accepted approach, and anesthesia is not required. We …

BACKGROUND: Ezrin protein and its activated form phospho-ezrin play a role in cell morphology, motility and adhesiveness. In this study, we hypothesized that these proteins play a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis by promoting adhes…

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumors in women, their etiology is poorly understood. We have previously shown that multiple members of the retinoic acid (RA) pathway have altered expression in …

BACKGROUND: Deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) is a specific type of endometriosis, which can be associated with more severe pelvic pain than other forms of endometriotic lesions. However, the mechanisms by which pain is generated are no…

Laparoscopic treatment for endometriosis-associated infertility is gaining widespread popularity supported mostly by uncontrolled studies, but the purported benefit of surgery may be overvalued. We have therefore analysed the best available…

BACKGROUND: To test our hypothesis that eutopic secretory phase endometrium from women with endometriosis is similar to proliferative phase endometrium from fertile women without endometriosis, we explored the expression of regulators of ce…

BACKGROUND: It has been hypothesized that exposure to exogenous estrogens may be associated with endometriosis and uterine myomas. We sought to investigate the association between heavy metals which have been shown to be hormonally active a…

BACKGROUND: We investigated the role of human heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated growth of endometriosis. METHODS: TLR4 expression was examined in macrophages (M) isolated in primary culture from the peri…

BACKGROUND: The increase in concentration of osteoprotegerin, an antagonist of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), in the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis may interfere with TRAIL-induced apoptosis i…

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic colorectal resection for endometriosis can improve quality of life (QOL), but the results vary widely from one woman to another. The aim of this study was to determine whether the preoperative results on the Physica…

BACKGROUND: Abnormal bleeding is common in hormone therapy (HT) users. We aimed to determine how HT alters endometrial blood vessels and stromal factors known to regulate vascular growth and integrity. METHODS: Prospective observational st…

BACKGROUND: We compared the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and rectal endoscopic sonography (RES) for the diagnosis of deep pelvic endometriosis (DPE), with respect to surgical and histological findings. METHODS: Longitudinal…

BACKGROUND: The eutopic endometrium in a woman suffering from adenomyosis is known to be biologically different from that of healthy women. The aim of this study was to examine the apoptosis and proliferation of eutopic endometrium from wom…

BACKGROUND: The clinical relevance of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in women undergoing in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF/ET) and the role of IVF treatment in affecting antiphospholipid levels are controversial. The aim of thi…