Stem Cell as the Novel Pathogenesis of Endometriosis

Eing‐Mei Tsai
In: Endometriosis - Basic Concepts and Current Research Trends · 2012 · doi:10.5772/29695 · W1599507595
book-chapter OA: hybrid CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This study isolated and characterized endometrial mesenchymal stem cells from eutopic and ectopic tissue, finding genetic differences and invasive properties consistent with endometriosis being a stem cell disease.

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

Abstract

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease. It is unique to have benign histology but with malignant characteristics. Easy recurrence, multiple organ involvement and malignant transformation potential make endometriosis a complex disease. Multi-factors contribute to the pathophysiology. Recently, endometriosis has been regarded as a stem cell disease (Sasson & Taylor, 2008). Some studies have provided evidence of the possible existence of stem cells in endometrial tissue (Gargett et al., 2004, 2007). We successfully isolated eutopic and ectopic endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (EN-MSCs) derived from one donor to examine the genetic difference analysis that provided a powerful tool for investigating the disease origin (Kao et al., 2011). Our results are consistent with the concept that endometriosis is a stem cell disease. We identified and characterized the MSCs from ectopic and eutopic endometrium by in vitro cell characteristics, including serpiginous morphology, surface biomarkers, a lack of gap junctional intercellular communication and the ability of differentiation and transdifferentiation into adipocytes, osteocytes, chondrocytes, neural cell and cardiomyocytes. In an in vivo animal study, we found the ability of invasion in eutopic and ectopic MSC.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

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 (35)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK