Molecular biological markers of endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic hormone-dependent disease, which is typically characterized by the occurrence of benign growths of tissue, similar in functional properties and structure to the endometrium. This disease affects up to 10% of women of reproductive age, significantly reducing performance, fertility and quality of life. Diagnosis of endometriosis is based on clinical presentation, ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but diagnosis is often hampered by the lack of objective criteria. Despite the practical necessity, there are currently no minimally invasive, highly sensitive methods for diagnosing endometriosis. The article covers a review of modern literature data on the results of the search for molecular biological markers of endometriosis in ectopic foci and eutopic endometrium, the characteristics of their expression and the possibility of application in medical practice. Works cited in the study were selected using the keywords “endometriosis”, “microRNA”, “molecular markers of endometriosis”, “eutopic endometrium” in the search engines PubMed, MedLine. Publications had to meet the following criteria: published in the last 5–7 years; publication language – Russian, English; access to the full text of the publication; Literature not indexed in medical databases was not examined. Also excluded from the analysis were oncological studies, studies concerning extragenital forms of endometriosis, articles on methods of invasive diagnostics and surgical treatment. As a result, 29 articles were selected that met the selection criteria and maximally reflected the current state of the issue of non-invasive and minimally invasive diagnosis of endometriosis.

Keywords

• endometriosis, eutopic endometrium, microrna, diagnosis, review