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abstract
Human
endometrium is a highly dynamic tissue, undergoing periodic growth and
regression at each menstrual cycle. Endometriosis is a frequent chronic
pathological status characterized by endometrial tissue with an ectopic
localization, causing pelvic pain and infertility and a variable
clinical presentation. In addition, there is well-established evidence
that, although endometriosis is considered benign, it is associated with
an increased risk of malignant transformation in approximately 1.0% of
affected women, with the involvement of multiple pathways of
development. Increasing evidence supports a key contribution of
different stem/progenitor cell populations not only in the cyclic
regeneration of eutopic endometrium, but also in the pathogenesis of at
least some types of endometriosis. Evidence has arisen from experiments
in animal models of disease through different kinds of assays (including
clonogenicity, the label-retaining cell approach, the analysis of
undifferentiation markers), as well as from descriptive studies on
ectopic and eutopic tissue samples harvested from affected women.
Changes in stem cell populations in endometriotic lesions are associated
with genetic and epigenetic alterations, including imbalance of miRNA
expression, histone and DNA modifications and chromosomal aberrations.
The present short review mainly summarizes the latest observations
contributing to the current knowledge regarding the presence and the
potential contribution of stem/progenitor cells in eutopic endometrium
and the aetiology of endometriosis, together with a report of the most
recently identified genetic and epigenetic alterations in endometriosis.
We also describe the potential advantages of single cell molecular
profiling in endometrium and in endometriotic lesions. All these data
can have clinical implications and provide a basis for new potential
therapeutic applications.
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