The Role of Stem Cells in the Etiology and Pathophysiology of Endometriosis

Demetra Hufnagel, Fei Li, Emine Cosar, Emine Çoşar, Graciela Krikun, Hugh S Taylor
Seminars in reproductive medicine · 2015 · vol. 33(05) , pp. 333–340 · doi:10.1055/s-0035-1564609 · PMID:26375413 · PMC4986990 · W1523907676
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review explores how both endometrium- and bone marrow-derived stem cells contribute to endometriosis development and how the disease disrupts normal uterine stem cell function.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This paper is a review examining how stem and progenitor cell populations contribute to the etiology and pathophysiology of endometriosis. It synthesizes evidence that both endometrium-derived and bone marrow-derived stem cells can migrate to ectopic sites to participate in disease development, and that endometriosis disrupts normal stem-cell trafficking to the uterus that is required for endometrial growth and repair, with altered stem cell mobility and engraftment described as characteristic. A major caveat is that, as a review, it integrates findings across many studies rather than presenting new primary experimental data, and the mechanisms are compiled from heterogeneous experimental and clinical observations. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses specifically on the role of stem/progenitor cells in how endometriosis develops and alters endometrial stem cell trafficking and engraftment.

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Abstract

Human endometrium is a dynamic organ that normally undergoes repetitive cyclic regeneration. To enable this rapid regeneration, it is not surprising that the endometrium contains a reservoir of progenitor stem cells. However, this pool of cells that allows the growth of the endometrium also allows for unrestrained growth that can reach beyond the endometrium. In this review, we will address the role of stem cells in endometriosis. Recent characterization of stem cell populations within human endometrium has opened the possibility of understanding their physiologic as well as their pathologic roles. While stem cells are critical to the cyclic regeneration of a healthy endometrium, we have shown that both endometrium-derived and bone marrow-derived stem cells can migrate to ectopic sites and contribute to the development of endometriosis. Furthermore, endometriosis interferes with the normal stem cell trafficking to the uterus that is necessary for endometrial growth and repair. Altered stem cell mobility and engraftment characterize this disease.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometrium Mesenchymal Stem Cells Cell Movement Chemotaxis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Female Humans Mesenchymal Stem Cells Molecular Targeted Therapy Regeneration Stem Cells Stem Cells

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.

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