Endometriosis and ovarian cancer risk, an epigenetic connection

Sarah Brunty, Brenda Mitchell, Nadim Bou-Zgheib, Nalini Santanam
Annals of translational medicine · 2020 · vol. 8(24) , pp. 1715 · doi:10.21037/atm-20-2449 · PMID:33490227 · PMC7812227 · W3033500642
review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 9 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review explores shared epigenetic changes in endometriosis and epithelial ovarian cancer to suggest a possible etiological connection between the two diseases.

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Abstract

Abstract: Endometriosis is a gynecological disorder that affects 176 million women worldwide and 1 in 10 females in the United States. Endometriosis most often affects women of child-bearing age, with most going undiagnosed. Endometriosis also shares many characteristics common to invasive cancer and has been known to be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the 11th most common cancer among women and over 22,000 new cases will be diagnosed within the next year. Women most commonly diagnosed with this cancer are between the ages of 55–64 years, outside the range of the age of women affected with endometriosis. While no known cause of either disease has been established, epigenetic regulation is thought to play a major role in both. This review focuses on epigenetic changes that occur within each individual disease as well as those that are similar in both, suggesting a possible etiological link between the two diseases.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

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 (100)

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