Endometriosis is not the endometrium: Reviewing the over-representation of eutopic endometrium in endometriosis research
Kate Gunther, Teagan Fisher, Dongli Liu, Jason Abbott, Caroline E. Ford
Abstract
As a heterogenous disease with likely multiple pathogeneses and as-yet-undefined subtypes, progress in endometriosis treatment is currently limited by a lack of appropriate models and cohorts for research. Almost half of all publicly available datasets labelled as 'endometriosis' do not represent true disease as they are based on eutopic endometrium. Eutopic endometrial cells and tissues are frequently being used to represent endometriotic lesions, despite the unequivocal differences at both the tissue and cellular levels. As preclinical endometriosis research increases, it is important that the unique cellular and molecular profiles of endometrium and endometriosis are distinguished. Whilst each of these biospecimens can provide invaluable information to better understand disease aetiology and identify targets for diagnosis and treatment, it is imperative that the appropriate biospecimen and model are used to answer the relevant research question because endometriosis is not the endometrium.