The Roles and Regulatory Mechanism of DNA Dethylation in Endometriosis

Epigenetics regulate gene expression, DNA replication, and maintain the genome stability through DNA methylation,histone modification, chromatin remodeling, as well as miRNA regulation. DNA methylation is one of the most well-studied epigenetic modifications, involving in eukaryotic genes expression regulation. DNA methylation play crucial roles in Mammalian development,tumorigenesis and other human diseases. The changes of DNA methylation states have been identified as a common hall-mark of human cancer cells. Although EMs is a benign gynecological disorder, it always shows the characteristics of the tumor, including cell proliferation, invasion and distance metastases. Recent studies suggest that aberrant DNA methylation states may be associated with the occurrence of endometriosis(EMs) and consider that EMs is fundamentally an epigenetic disease. Since the epigenetic modifications are reversible process, the associations between DNA methylation states and EMs will provide a new therapy way for EMs. This review summarizes the recent research progress about the roles and molecular mechanism of DNA methylation in the onset and development of EMs, as well as the roles in diagnosis and treatment for EMs.