Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Center of Postgraduate Medical Education, 01-809 Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Dec 4;19(12):3869. doi: 10.3390/ijms19123869.
Uterine fibroids (UFs) are the most common benign tumors of the female genital tract. The incidence of UFs has been estimated at 25⁻80% depending on selected population. The pathophysiology of UFs remains poorly understood. The transformation of smooth muscle cells of the uterus into abnormal, immortal cells, capable of clonal division, is the main component of all pathways leading to UF tumor formation and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is believed to be one of the key factors in this field. TNF-α is a cell signaling protein involved in systemic inflammation and is one of the cytokines responsible for the acute phase reaction. This publication presents current data about the role of tumor necrosis factor α in the biology of UFs and the related symptoms. TNF-α is an extremely important cytokine associated with the biology of UFs, UF-related symptoms and complaints. Its concentration has been proven to be elevated in women with clinically symptomatic UFs. The presented data suggest the presence of an "inflammation-like" state in women with UFs where TNF-α is a potent inflammation inducer. The origin of numerous symptoms reported by women with UFs can be traced back to the TNF-α influence. Nevertheless, our knowledge on this subject remains limited and TNF-α dependent pathways in UF pathophysiology should be investigated further.
子宫肌瘤（UFs）是女性生殖道最常见的良性肿瘤。UFs 的发病率据选定人群的不同估计为 25⁻80%。UFs 的病理生理学仍知之甚少。子宫平滑肌细胞向异常、不朽的细胞转化，能够进行克隆分裂，是导致 UF 肿瘤形成和肿瘤坏死因子 α（TNF-α）的所有途径的主要组成部分，被认为是该领域的关键因素之一。TNF-α 是一种参与全身炎症的细胞信号蛋白，是负责急性期反应的细胞因子之一。本出版物介绍了肿瘤坏死因子 α 在 UFs 生物学和相关症状中的作用的最新数据。TNF-α 是与 UFs 生物学、UF 相关症状和主诉相关的极其重要的细胞因子。已经证明，在有临床症状的 UFs 妇女中，TNF-α 的浓度升高。所呈现的数据表明，在患有 UFs 的妇女中存在一种“类似炎症”的状态，其中 TNF-α 是一种有效的炎症诱导剂。许多患有 UFs 的妇女报告的症状的起源可以追溯到 TNF-α 的影响。然而，我们对此主题的了解仍然有限，UFs 病理生理学中的 TNF-α 相关途径应进一步研究。
