Endometriosis and unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion: pathological states resulting from aberrant modulation of natural killer cell function?

Edgardo Somigliana, E Somigliana, P Viganò, M Vignali
Human reproduction update · 1999 · vol. 5(1) , pp. 40–51 · doi:10.1093/humupd/5.1.40 · PMID:10333368 · W2125102411
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 35 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This review explores how altered natural killer cell function, found to be low in endometriosis and high in unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion, may link these two conditions.

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Abstract

The observation that natural killer (NK) cell activity is abnormally low in endometriosis patients and abnormally high in women with otherwise unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion represents, at present, an intriguing curiosity. There is evidence suggesting that these conditions are associated with an opposite regulation of NK cell behaviour. This review discusses these observations and potential relationships.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Abortion, Habitual Endometriosis Killer Cells, Natural Abortion, Habitual Endometriosis Female Histocompatibility Antigens Class I Histocompatibility Antigens Class I HLA Antigens HLA Antigens HLA-G Antigens Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Killer Cells, Natural Pregnancy Uterus Uterus

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 (35)

Source provenance

europepmc
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openalex
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pubmed
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License: CC0 · commercial use OK