Endometrial cells from women with endometriosis have increased adhesion and proliferative capacity in response to extracellular matrix components: towards a mechanistic model for endometriosis progression

Petra Klemmt, Petra A B Klemmt, J. G. Carver, Janet G Carver, Philippe R. Koninckx, Philippe Koninckx, Enda McVeigh, Enda J McVeigh, Helen J Mardon
Human Reproduction · 2007 · vol. 22(12) , pp. 3139–3147 · doi:10.1093/humrep/dem262 · PMID:17921481 · W1989066573
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 86 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Endometrial stromal cells from women with endometriosis exhibit altered integrin expression, leading to increased adhesion and proliferation in response to extracellular matrix components.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis, classified as the presence of endometrial cells in ectopic sites, is a debilitating disease causing pain and infertility in approximately 10% of women of reproductive age. It is associated with the aberrant expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components and their receptors, integrins. METHODS: We analysed the expression of integrins in stromal cells derived from peritoneal, ovarian and deeply infiltrating endometriotic lesions and from endometrium from women with and without endometriosis in vitro, using quantitative immunocytochemistry. The adhesive and proliferative capacity of each of the cell types in response to ECM components was assessed by in vitro assays of cell attachment and DNA synthesis. RESULTS: We demonstrate that eutopic and ectopic endometrial stromal cells from women with endometriosis exhibit an aberrant integrin profile in vitro compared with stromal cells derived from healthy controls. In addition, the former display increased adhesion and proliferative capacity in response to specific ECM components. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that the increased adhesive and proliferative potential of cells from endometriotic lesions may be a key feature in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Furthermore, the elevated responsiveness of eutopic cells from women with endometriosis may contribute to the predisposition of some women to the disease.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Extracellular Matrix Proteins Adult Cell Adhesion Cell Division Cell Line Collagen Type I Collagen Type I Collagen Type IV Collagen Type IV Disease Progression DNA DNA Endometriosis Endometrium Extracellular Matrix Proteins Female

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (58)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-19T06:14:56.452680+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:14:48.452140+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK