Molecular aspects of development and regulation of endometriosis

Yana Aznaurova, Yana B Aznaurova, Marat B Zhumataev, M.B.Zhumataev M.B.Zhumataev, Tiffany K Roberts, Alexander Aliper, Alexander M Aliper, Alex A Zhavoronkov, Alex Zhavoronkov
Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2014 · vol. 12(1) , pp. 50 · doi:10.1186/1477-7827-12-50 · PMID:24927773 · PMC4067518 · W2116091210
review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 84 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review discusses the molecular aspects of endometriosis, including its etiology, cellular mechanisms, diagnostic tools, and therapies, with a focus on how "-omic" data and bioinformatics can guide novel diagnostics and therapeutics.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This review paper examines the current understanding of endometriosis etiology and cellular and molecular mechanisms, and describes existing diagnostic tools and therapies, with emphasis on how emerging genomic and proteomic (“-omic”) data could enable non-invasive biomarkers and more pathophysiology-targeted treatment strategies. It discusses epidemiology, risk factors (including pregnancy rate, night shift work, environmental dioxins), and immune and autoimmune features (e.g., altered T-/B-cell function and circulating auto-antibodies), while also outlining major theories for lesion development such as retrograde menstruation, coelomic metaplasia, and lymphovascular metastasis. A key limitation explicitly acknowledged is that endometriosis pathophysiology remains largely elusive, preventing definitive causal conclusions, especially regarding environmental exposures in humans. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it provides a molecular-focused review of mechanisms, risk factors, diagnostics, and therapeutic targets.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a common and painful condition affecting women of reproductive age. While the underlying pathophysiology is still largely unknown, much advancement has been made in understanding the progression of the disease. In recent years, a great deal of research has focused on non-invasive diagnostic tools, such as biomarkers, as well as identification of potential therapeutic targets. In this article, we will review the etiology and cellular mechanisms associated with endometriosis as well as the current diagnostic tools and therapies. We will then discuss the more recent genomic and proteomic studies and how these data may guide development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics. The current diagnostic tools are invasive and current therapies primarily treat the symptoms of endometriosis. Optimally, the advancement of "-omic" data will facilitate the development of non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers as well as therapeutics that target the pathophysiology of the disease and halt, or even reverse, progression. However, the amount of data generated by these types of studies is vast and bioinformatics analysis, such as we present here, will be critical to identification of appropriate targets for further study.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Animals Apoptosis Biomarkers Biomarkers Cell Proliferation Computational Biology Computational Biology Disease Progression Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Neovascularization, Pathologic Signal Transduction

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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.

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Cited by (50)

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