Apoptosis and endometriosis

Fuminori Taniguchi, Apostolos Kaponis, Masao Izawa, Tomoiki Kiyama, Imari Deura, Masayuki Ito, Tomio Iwabe, George Adonakis, Naoki Terakawa, Tasuku Harada
Frontiers in bioscience (Elite edition) · 2010 · vol. E3(2) , pp. 648–662 · doi:10.2741/e277 · PMID:21196342 · W2027809130
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This review examines altered apoptosis regulation in women with endometriosis, highlighting increased anti-apoptotic and decreased pro-apoptotic factors in eutopic endometrium and potential immune cell apoptosis contributing to disease pathogenesis.

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

The paper reviews how apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death that removes cells without provoking inflammation, is physiologically regulated in normal endometrium and how this regulation is altered in both eutopic and ectopic endometrium in women with endometriosis. It reports that compared with endometrium from healthy women, eutopic endometrium in endometriosis shows increased expression of anti-apoptotic factors and decreased expression of pro-apoptotic factors, which may enable survival of regurgitated endometrial cells outside the uterus; it also describes increased apoptosis of Fas-bearing immune cells in the peritoneal cavity and consequent reduced scavenger activity that can prolong ectopic cell survival. The study is explicitly a literature review and thus synthesizes prior findings rather than presenting new experimental data. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses on how changes in apoptosis regulation contribute to the survival of ectopic endometrial cells and discusses apoptosis in relation to endometriosis treatment.

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Abstract

Apoptosis is a distinctive form of programmed cell death resulting in the efficient elimination of cells without eliciting an inflammatory response. Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of endometrial cells with capacity to avoid apoptosis outside the uterus. Apoptosis plays a fundamental role for the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis has increased expression of anti-apoptotic factor and decreased expression of pro-apoptotic factors compared with endometrium from healthy women. These differences could contribute to the survival of regurgitating endometrial cells into the peritoneal cavity and development of endometriosis. Increased apoptosis of Fas-bearing immune cells in the peritoneal cavity may leads to their decreased scavenger activity that eventually results in prolonged survival of ectopic endometrial cells in women with endometriosis. This study is a current review of the literatures focused on the physiological role of apoptosis in normal endometrium and alterations in regulation of apoptosis in eutopic and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis. The role of apoptosis in the treatment of endometriosis is also reviewed.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Apoptosis Endometriosis Endometrium Fas Ligand Protein Macrophages, Peritoneal Mitochondria Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 Apoptosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Fas Ligand Protein Female Humans Macrophages, Peritoneal Mitochondria Mitochondria

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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Cited by (50)

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