Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Endometriosis in 2023

Harnessing the inflammatory processes in endometriosis

  • Year in Review
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Endocrinology

View current issue Sign up to alerts

The pathophysiology of endometriosis is underpinned by a complex interplay of inflammatory processes that are responsible for the local and systemic effects of the condition. Recent studies delve further into this inflammatory interplay; using animal models, they identify potential therapeutic tools and remind us to look beyond the endometriotic lesions.

Key advances

  • In studies exploring the potential therapeutic value of a long-acting antibody directed against IL-8 (AMY109), the size of endometriotic lesions and extent of adhesions and fibrosis was reduced in a syngeneic model of endometriosis established in cynomolgus macaques3.

  • Researchers have suggested a mechanism by which Fusobacterium infection in the endometrium might be causative of endometriosis; pre-clinical studies using a syngeneic mouse model of endometriosis demonstrate that treatment with antibiotics reduces the severity of disease in Fusobacterium-infected animals7.

  • An increase in soma size was observed in the cortex, hippocampus, thalamus and hypothalamus of microglial cells in a mouse model of endometriosis; these results are suggestive of generalized glial cell activation and have ramifications for how we understand chronic pain and other neurological issues in endometriosis10.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Saunders, P. T. K. & Horne, A. W. Endometriosis: etiology, pathobiology, and therapeutic prospects. Cell 184, 2807–2824 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Taylor, H. S., Kotlyar, A. M. & Flores, V. A. Endometriosis is a chronic systemic disease: clinical challenges and novel innovations. Lancet 397, 839–852 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Nishimoto-Kakiuchi, A. et al. A long-acting anti-IL-8 antibody improves inflammation and fibrosis in endometriosis. Sci. Transl. Med. 15, eabq5858 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sikora, J., Smycz-Kubańska, M., Mielczarek-Palacz, A. & Kondera-Anasz, Z. Abnormal peritoneal regulation of chemokine activation–the role of IL-8 in pathogenesis of endometriosis. Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 77, e12622 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Klaus, T. & Deshmukh, S. pH-responsive antibodies for therapeutic applications. J. Biomed. Sci. 28, 11 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. American Society for Reproductive. Revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine classification of endometriosis: 1996. Fertil. Steril. 67, 817–821 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Muraoka, A. et al. Fusobacterium infection facilitates the development of endometriosis through the phenotypic transition of endometrial fibroblasts. Sci. Transl. Med. 15, eadd1531 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Uzuner, C., Mak, J., El-Assaad, F. & Condous, G. The bidirectional relationship between endometriosis and microbiome. Front. Endocrinol. 14, 1110824 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhu, H. et al. Noteworthy perspectives on microglia in neuropsychiatric disorders. J. Neuroinflammation 20, 223 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Bashir, S. T. et al. Endometriosis leads to central nervous system-wide glial activation in a mouse model of endometriosis. J. Neuroinflammation 20, 59 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Jane E. Girling

Authors
  1. Jane E. Girling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane E. Girling.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Girling, J.E. Harnessing the inflammatory processes in endometriosis. Nat Rev Endocrinol 20, 69–70 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-023-00937-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-023-00937-x

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation