Biomarkers in endometriosis: challenges and opportunities

Soo Hyun Ahn, Ahn SH, Singh V, Vinay Singh, Vinay Kumar Singh, Tayade C, Chandrakant Tayade
Fertility and sterility · 2017 · vol. 107(3) , pp. 523–532 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.01.009 · PMID:28189296 · W2586274172
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 174 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities in identifying and utilizing biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring of endometriosis.

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

Abstract

Endometriosis is a debilitating gynecologic disease affecting millions of women across the world, with symptoms including dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. Theorized to stem from the phenomenon of retrograde menstruation, the diagnosis of endometriosis is typically delayed by 8-10 years owing to misinterpretation of symptoms as common menstrual cramps in adolescent girls and young women. With increased incidence of endometriosis in young girls correlated with earlier menarche, the development of diagnostic biomarkers is imperative for diagnosing and treating women afflicted with endometriosis as early as we can. In the past few years, multiple reviews highlighted the list of potential diagnostic candidates in peritoneal fluid, blood, urine, and endometrial biopsies from endometriosis patients in different stages of disease and menstrual cycle. In this review, we explore the opportunities and challenges facing the field of diagnostic biomarkers for endometriosis. We highlight the importance of eutopic endometrium as a source of potential diagnostic biomarkers by looking at the expression levels of noncoding RNA in tissue as well as in blood. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that hinder our efforts in validating candidate diagnostic biomarkers for endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Biomarkers Endometriosis Endometrium Menstrual Cycle Biomarkers Biopsy Comorbidity Cytokines Cytokines Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Female Genetic Markers Humans Inflammation Mediators Inflammation Mediators

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)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-08-29T06:12:09.280863+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:20:37.704673+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK