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Review
. 2024 May 27;25(11):5815.
doi: 10.3390/ijms25115815.

The Known, the Unknown and the Future of the Pathophysiology of Endometriosis

Maria Ariadna Ochoa Bernal  1   2 , Asgerally T Fazleabas  1
Affiliations
Review

The Known, the Unknown and the Future of the Pathophysiology of Endometriosis

Maria Ariadna Ochoa Bernal et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Endometriosis is one of the most common causes of chronic pelvic pain and infertility, affecting 10% of women of reproductive age. A delay of up to 9 years is estimated between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis of endometriosis. Endometriosis is currently defined as the presence of endometrial epithelial and stromal cells at ectopic sites; however, advances in research on endometriosis have some authors believing that endometriosis should be re-defined as "a fibrotic condition in which endometrial stroma and epithelium can be identified". There are several theories on the etiology of the disease, but the origin of endometriosis remains unclear. This review addresses the role of microRNAs (miRNAs), which are naturally occurring post-transcriptional regulatory molecules, in endometriotic lesion development, the inflammatory environment within the peritoneal cavity, including the role that cytokines play during the development of the disease, and how animal models have helped in our understanding of the pathology of this enigmatic disease.

Keywords: baboon model; cytokines; endometriosis; fibrosis; infertility; microRNA; mouse model; origins; pathophysiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different theories on the etiology of endometriosis. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The three major sources of estradiol (E2) within endometriosis. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Canonical miRNA biogenesis pathway. Created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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