The role of NF-kappaB in endometriosis

Tasuku Harada, Apostolos Kaponis, Tomio Iwabe, Fuminori Taniguchi, Masayuki Ito, Imari Deura, George Decavalas, Naoki Terakawa
Frontiers in bioscience (Scholar edition) · 2012 · vol. S4(4) , pp. 1213–1234 · doi:10.2741/s327 · PMID:22652867 · W2343207388
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 45 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review discusses the critical role of NF-kappaB in endometriosis pathophysiology, detailing its involvement in inflammation, invasion, vascularization, oxidative stress, and its modulation by therapeutic agents.

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

Abstract

The nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor playing vital roles in innate immunity and other processes involving cellular survival, proliferation, and differentiation. This review highlights the importance of NF-kappaB in the pathophysiology of endometriosis. Constitutive activation of NF-kappaB has been shown in endometriotic lesions. Complex interactions of NF-kappaB with steroid receptors and apoptotic molecules in endometriosis resulting in opposing roles of NF-kappaB are discussed. NF-kappaB regulates the expression of cytokines mediating autocrine self-amplifying cycles of cytokine release and NF-kappaB activation, leading to maintenance of inflammatory reactions in endometriosis. NF-kappaB can contribute to the increased ability of endometriotic cells to invade and adhere to the peritoneal surface by regulating the expression of matrix metaloproteinases. We are presenting the role of NF-kappaB to regulate vascularization and oxidative stress in endometriotic cells. Effects of drugs used for the treatment of endometriosis on NF-kappaB pathway are presented and we show how drugs that inhibit the NF-kappaB can mediate the progression of endometriosis. Novel therapeutic strategies involving the NF-kappaB and applied in endometriosis are also discussed.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis NF-kappa B Animals Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans NF-kappa B Signal Transduction

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 (65)

Cited by (45)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-17T06:13:18.893374+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:16:11.197438+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK