Hong In-Sun
Department of Health Sciences and Technology, GAIHST, Gachon University, Incheon 21999, Republic of Korea.
Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon 21999, Republic of Korea.
Genes Dis. 2022 Aug 31;10(3):931-947. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2022.08.009. eCollection 2023 May.
The endometrium is the inner mucosal lining of the uterus that undergoes extensive cyclic growth, regeneration, differentiation, and shedding throughout the menstrual cycle in response to steroid hormones. It repeatedly undergoes approximately 450 cycles of degeneration and regeneration in a woman's lifetime. Endometrial abnormalities can be associated with repeated embryo implantation failure, recurrent spontaneous abortion, and other physiological features responsible for female infertility. This significant regenerative capacity may occur as a result of tissue-resident stem cell populations within the endometrium. Indeed, the existence of endometrial stem cells was only observed in humans and rodents through several isolation and characterization methods in the last few years. Although endometrial stem cells share various biological characteristics with other types of mesenchymal stem cells, they also show some differences in phenotype, self-renewal, and multilineage differentiation potential. Extensive studies over many years on endometrial stem cells will provide new insights into the physiology and mechanisms underlying various gynaecological diseases related to endometrial abnormalities such as female infertility, endometriosis, and endometrial cancer. Here we summarized recent studies about cellular origins and biological characteristics of endometrial stem cells. We also reviewed various recent studies to improve our understanding of their physiological roles. Many preclinical studies on their potential therapeutic applications to various endometrial diseases that could lead to reproductive dysfunction were also reviewed.
子宫内膜是子宫的内层黏膜，在月经周期中，它会响应甾体激素而经历广泛的周期性生长、再生、分化和脱落。在女性一生中，它会反复经历约450次退化和再生周期。子宫内膜异常可能与反复胚胎植入失败、复发性自然流产以及其他导致女性不孕的生理特征有关。这种显著的再生能力可能是由于子宫内膜内的组织驻留干细胞群体所致。事实上，直到最近几年，才通过几种分离和鉴定方法在人类和啮齿动物中观察到子宫内膜干细胞的存在。尽管子宫内膜干细胞与其他类型的间充质干细胞具有多种生物学特征，但它们在表型、自我更新和多向分化潜能方面也存在一些差异。多年来对子宫内膜干细胞的广泛研究将为与子宫内膜异常相关的各种妇科疾病（如女性不孕、子宫内膜异位症和子宫内膜癌）的生理学和发病机制提供新的见解。在此，我们总结了关于子宫内膜干细胞的细胞起源和生物学特征的近期研究。我们还回顾了各种近期研究，以增进我们对其生理作用的理解。我们还回顾了许多关于它们对各种可能导致生殖功能障碍的子宫内膜疾病潜在治疗应用的临床前研究。
