Current Women's Health Reviews - Volume 14, Issue 2, 2018

Background: Endometriosis is characteristically defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity. Despite an estimated prevalence of 10% in women, the specific etiology, molecular, and clinical aspects of this disease remain poorly understood. Objective: This review further elucidates current theories of the origins of endometriosis and additionally provides a thorough outlook on clinical pr Read More

Background: A substantial body of studies supports the view that molecular and cellular features of endometriotic lesions differ from those of eutopic endometrium. Apart from that, evidence exists that the eutopic endometrium from patients with endometriosis differs from that of females without endometriosis. Objective: Aberrant expression profiles include a number of non-steroid signaling pathways that exert their putati Read More

Background: The complexity of endometriosis pathophysiology, the diversity of disease phenotypes, and the fact that the disease only occurs in menstruating primates have limited the pace of progress in our understanding of this very common and sometimes debilitating disease. Despite the difficulties investigators face, it has been clearly established that complex mechanisms involving steroid hormones, their metabolism Read More

Background: Endometriosis is a debilitating and chronic inflammatory gynecological disease of reproductive age women. Two major clinical symptoms of endometriosis are chronic pelvic pain and infertility, which profoundly affect the quality of life in women. Current treatment strategies include surgical intervention, anti-estrogen hormonal therapy, or a combination of both. The existing treatment modalities fail to preven Read More

Background: The matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) system is a group of enzymes, function to modulate the tissue structure and degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM), a process required in cellular repair, proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. The role of MMPs in endometriosis pathophysiology has been examined, and it is hypothesized that mis-expression of MMPs in endometrial cells or surrounding tissues is a Read More

Background: The heritable silencing of genes, without a change in their coding sequence, is due to epigenetic mechanisms. These mechanisms involve DNA methylation, the modification of histone, and non-coding RNA. Disrupting the balance of the epigenetic profile or network can cause a variety of diseases. Objective: We provide an overview of epigenetic mechanisms and epigenetic modifiers in endometriosis, focusing on Read More

Background: Endometriosis is a painful disorder in women where endometrium-like tissue exists outside of the uterine cavity. Progress on new therapies for the disorder is dependent on physiologically relevant models. Menstruation and development of spontaneous endometriosis only occur in women and Old World nonhuman primates making nonhuman primates the most suitable animals for study. Herein we review t Read More

Background: Although it has been more than a century since endometriosis was initially described in the literature, understanding the etiology and natural history of the disease has been challenging. However, the broad utility of murine and rat models of experimental endometriosis has enabled the elucidation of a number of potentially targetable processes which may otherwise promote this disease. Objective: To review Read More

Background: Endometriosis is a disease common among women of reproductive age characterized by pain, anxiety and infertility. Defined as the growth of endometrial tissue in ectopic locations, endometriosis remains an enigmatic disease for which current treatments are less than ideal. Much of these shortcomings to current therapy stem from our incomplete understanding on the pathogenesis of the disease. It is gener Read More