Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
Reprod Biomed Online. 2022 Jul;45(1):5-9. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2022.03.016. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
Endometriosis is a sex hormone-dependent, painful disease that affects 10-15% of women worldwide with no definitive cure, and current treatments are not always effective. This limitation is mainly due to gaps in our knowledge about the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis at the cellular and molecular levels. Hormonal dysregulation appears to be responsible for inflammation, angiogenesis, endometrial non-receptivity, embryo implantation failure and infertility in women with endometriosis. Although correlative evidence about possible causes of hormonal dysregulations exists, the functional mechanisms remain unknown. Reliable research models of endometriosis are needed to investigate the exact mechanisms that underlie hormone disruptions. This Commentary discusses the available in-vivo and in-vitro systems for studying endometriosis. The authors emphasize the recently developed human endometriosis organoids as cutting-edge and innovative research models for endometriosis investigations, discuss their advantages and describe challenges that must be addressed to yield a reliable in-vitro model of human endometriosis. Moreover, it discusses microfluidic technology to address the present challenges for producing advanced endometriosis organoids and how to benefit from CRISPR technology to improve our knowledge about disturbed hormonal function in patients with endometriosis.
子宫内膜异位症是一种与性激素相关的、使人疼痛的疾病，全球有 10-15%的女性受到影响，目前尚无明确的治愈方法，且现有治疗方法并不总是有效。这种局限性主要是由于我们在细胞和分子水平上对子宫内膜异位症发病机制相关机制的了解存在差距。激素失调似乎与子宫内膜异位症女性的炎症、血管生成、子宫内膜容受性降低、胚胎着床失败和不孕有关。尽管存在关于激素失调可能原因的相关证据，但功能机制仍不清楚。需要可靠的子宫内膜异位症研究模型来研究导致激素紊乱的确切机制。本述评讨论了现有的研究子宫内膜异位症的体内和体外系统。作者强调了最近开发的人类子宫内膜异位症类器官，作为子宫内膜异位症研究的前沿和创新研究模型，讨论了它们的优势，并描述了为获得可靠的人类子宫内膜异位症体外模型必须解决的挑战。此外，述评还讨论了微流控技术如何解决目前在生成先进的子宫内膜异位症类器官方面面临的挑战，以及如何利用 CRISPR 技术来提高我们对子宫内膜异位症患者激素功能紊乱的认识。
