Pathogenesis of Endometriosis and Uterine Fibroids
1Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy
2MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, The Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Pathogenesis of Endometriosis and Uterine Fibroids
Description
Endometriosis and uterine fibroids are important pathological conditions of the uterus.Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and represents one of the most gynecological disorders affecting 10-15% of all women of reproductive age and >30% of all infertile women. Uterine fibroids (leiomyomas or myomas) are benign tumors of the myometrium. Uterine leiomyomas affect as many as 77% of women in reproductive age, although 20-50% of women are symptomatic.
Although they are nonneoplastic conditions, they heavily impact upon women's health and fertility and are a common indication for surgery and the socioeconomic cost is huge. The mechanisms of formation remain unclear.The knowledge and the understanding of the pathogenesis of these conditions are essential to develop successful medical therapies and to understand the mechanisms of action of the currently available therapies and are of interest to basic researcher, clinical researcher, and clinicians. This journal will be an excellent resource for researchers and physicians and will provide state-of-the-art information on these very common benign uterine/pelvic conditions with such a major impact on women's quality of life.
We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to further the understanding of the pathogenesis of endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and adenomyosis. We are particularly interested in articles describing morphological, histological, biochemical, genetic, and epigenetic aspects pertaining to those conditions, as well as the pathogenetic mechanisms and new avenues of enquiry (novel hypotheses). Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Genetic factors
- Epigenetic factors
- Oxidative stress
- Inflammation
- Stem cell
- Deregulation of proliferation
- Fibrotic process
- Steroid hormones
- Growth factors
- Cytokines and chemokines
- Association with cancer
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