Models of endometriosis and their utility in studying progression to ovarian clear cell carcinoma

Claire M King, Claire King, Cynthia Barbara, Andrew Prentice, James D Brenton, D Stephen Charnock-Jones, D. Stephen Charnock‐Jones
The Journal of Pathology · 2015 · vol. 238(2) , pp. 185–196 · doi:10.1002/path.4657 · PMID:26456077 · W1920069294
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This review describes current endometriosis animal models and assesses their utility for mechanistic studies of ovarian clear cell carcinoma progression, a rare but plausible transformation from endometriosis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a common benign gynaecological condition affecting at least 10% of women of childbearing age and is characterized by pain--frequently debilitating. Although the exact prevalence is unknown, the economic burden is substantial (∼$50 billion a year in the USA alone) and it is associated with considerable morbidity. The development of endometriosis is inextricably linked to the process of menstruation and thus the models that best recapitulate the human disease are in menstruating non-human primates. However, the use of these animals is ethically challenging and very expensive. A variety of models in laboratory animals have been developed and the most recent are based on generating menstrual-like endometrial tissue that can be transferred to a recipient animal. These models are genetically manipulable and facilitate precise mechanistic studies. In addition, these models can be used to study malignant transformation in epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Epidemiological and molecular evidence indicates that endometriosis is the most plausible precursor of both clear cell and endometrioid ovarian cancer (OCCA and OEA, respectively). While this progression is rare, understanding the underlying mechanisms of transformation may offer new strategies for prevention and therapy. Our ability to pursue this is highly dependent on improved animal models but the current transgenic models, which genetically modify the ovarian surface epithelium and oviduct, are poor models of ectopic endometrial tissue. In this review we describe the various models of endometriosis and discuss how they may be applicable to developing our mechanistic understanding of OCCA and OEA.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Disease Models, Animal Endometriosis Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial Ovarian Neoplasms Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell Animals Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial Cell Transformation, Neoplastic Cell Transformation, Neoplastic Disease Progression Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Menstruation

Citation neighborhood

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References (79)

Cited by (28)

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