The mysterious association between adiponectin and endometriosis

Yong-Qing Zhao; Yongqing Zhao; Yi-Fan Ren; Yifan Ren; Bing-Bing Li; Bingbing Li; Chao Wei; Bin Yu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1396616

The mysterious association between adiponectin and endometriosis

Yong-Qing Zhao, Yongqing Zhao, Yi-Fan Ren, Yifan Ren, Bing-Bing Li, Bingbing Li, Chao Wei, Bin Yu

Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024 · vol. 15 , pp. 1396616 · doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1396616 · PMID:38813109 · PMC11133721 · W4396934553

review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations

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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review summarizes adiponectin's roles in apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, angiogenesis, and fibrosis relevant to endometriosis pathogenesis, noting its typically lower levels in endometriosis patients.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This article investigates the “mysterious association” between adiponectin and endometriosis by synthesizing evidence connecting adiponectin to apoptosis, angiogenesis, inflammation, fibrosis, metabolism, and estrogen-related pathways. It frames adiponectin as a potentially relevant endocrine/metabolic modulator in endometriosis biology, highlighting mechanistic links across multiple hallmark processes (cell death, blood vessel formation, inflammatory signaling, tissue remodeling, and hormonal crosstalk). The paper is presented as a general association-focused analysis rather than an original clinical or laboratory study with a clearly specified study population or experimental design. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses on the relationship between adiponectin and endometriosis and summarizes how adiponectin may connect to endometriosis-related mechanisms.

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Abstract

Adiponectin is a pleiotropic cytokine predominantly derived from adipose tissue. In addition to its role in regulating energy metabolism, adiponectin may also be related to estrogen-dependent diseases, and many studies have confirmed its involvement in mediating diverse biological processes, including apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, angiogenesis, and fibrosis, all of which are related to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Although many researchers have reported low levels of adiponectin in patients with endometriosis and suggested that it may serve as a protective factor against the development of the disease. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to provide an up-to-date summary of the roles of adiponectin and its downstream cytokines and signaling pathways in the aforementioned biological processes. Further systematic studies on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of action of adiponectin may provide novel insights into the pathophysiology of endometriosis as well as potential therapeutic targets.

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endometriosis

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