The Extracellular Vesicle-Macrophage Regulatory Axis: A Novel Pathogenesis for Endometriosis
This review summarizes how extracellular vesicles secreted by macrophages regulate macrophage function and contribute to the pathogenesis of endometriosis by promoting ectopic lesion growth, immune dysfunction, and angiogenesis.
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This review discusses extracellular vesicles—especially exosomes—and how they may contribute to endometriosis (EMs) pathogenesis through a macrophage–exosome regulatory axis, including EV roles in macrophage activation/polarization, immune modulation, inflammation, angiogenesis, and effects on endometrial stromal and epithelial cells. It synthesizes evidence that EV cargo from ectopic lesions, serum, peritoneal fluid, and immune cells (e.g., macrophages, mast cells, MDSCs, Tregs) contains microRNAs and lncRNAs (such as miR-26b-5p, miR-22-3p, and lncRNA aHIF) associated with cell proliferation, invasion, neuro-angiogenesis, fibrosis, and inflammatory signaling, with additional notes that specific mechanisms and clinical applications require further validation. As limitations, the paper explicitly emphasizes that more mechanistic work is needed to confirm pathways and to establish clinical utility of EV molecules as biomarkers or targets. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses on how the extracellular vesicle–macrophage regulatory axis may drive endometriosis-related inflammation and lesion progression.
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Cited by (7)
- Endothelial cell heterogeneity drives angiogenesis in endometriosis: mechanisms and emerging organoid-based models 2026
- Endothelial cell heterogeneity drives angiogenesis in endometriosis: mechanisms and emerging organoid-based models 2026
- SPP1 as a key modulator of M2 macrophage polarization promotes endometriosis progression via activation of the FAK/PI3K/AKT pathway: A bioinformatics and experimental study 2025
- Macrophage Plasticity and Extracellular Vesicles in Endometriosis: Immunopathology and Therapeutic Perspectives 2025
- Angiogenesis signaling in endometriosis: Molecules, diagnosis and treatment (Review) 2024
- Macrophage Phenotype Induced by Circulating Small Extracellular Vesicles from Women with Endometriosis 2024
- Extracellular vesicles and their content in the context of polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis: a review 2024
Source provenance
- europepmc
- last seen: 2026-09-19T06:15:14.566301+00:00
- openalex
- last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
- pubmed
- last seen: 2026-09-19T06:13:42.102516+00:00