MicroRNAs and Endometriosis: Distinguishing Drivers from Passengers in Disease Pathogenesis

Warren B Nothnick
Seminars in reproductive medicine · 2017 · vol. 35(02) , pp. 173–180 · doi:10.1055/s-0037-1599089 · PMID:28212593 · PMC5815380 · W2587981580
review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 50 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review examines differentially expressed microRNAs in endometriosis, focusing on functional studies to distinguish disease drivers from passengers by analyzing their targets and mis-expression.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This paper reviews evidence that microRNAs are differentially expressed between endometriotic lesion tissue and eutopic endometrium and discusses whether specific microRNAs function as drivers of lesion development and survival versus being downstream “passengers.” It synthesizes initial expression studies and then considers functional work in which differentially expressed microRNAs have been tested through predicted targets and reported effects on processes linked to endometriosis progression, while also highlighting methodological challenges in studying miRNAs in this context. A key caveat emphasized is that drawing causal conclusions is difficult because many findings rely on association and target prediction, and differences across studies can complicate interpretation. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — specifically, it distinguishes microRNA drivers from passengers in endometriosis pathogenesis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a disease common in women of reproductive age, characterized by pelvic pain and infertility. Despite its prevalence, the factors and mechanisms which contribute to the development and survival of ectopic lesions remain uncertain. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNA molecules that regulate posttranscriptional gene regulation which have been proposed to contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases including that of endometriosis. This review summarizes the results of initial studies describing differentially expressed miRNAs between endometriotic lesion tissue and eutopic endometrium. Focus then moves toward discussion of studies on examining function of differentially expressed miRNAs to determine if they play a permissive role (driver of the disease) in events conducive to endometriosis progression/survival. Included in this discussion are the potential targets of these miRNAs and how their mis-expression may contribute to the disease. Limitations and challenges faced in studying miRNAs and endometriosis pathogenesis and recommendations to overcome these hurdles are presented at the end.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis MicroRNAs Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gene Expression Regulation Genetic Predisposition to Disease Humans MicroRNAs MicroRNAs Phenotype Signal Transduction

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 (49)

Cited by (50)

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK