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Selected Publication:
Fouz,U.
Endometriosis and the pro-inflammatory cytokine milieu
Humanmedizin; [Diplomarbeit] Medical University of Graz;2019. pp. 77
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- Authors Med Uni Graz:
- Advisor:
- Luschnig Petra
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- Abstract:
- Background: Endometriosis is a debilitating and chronic gynecologic disease that affects almost ten percent of women worldwide. In this disease, endometrial-like tissue manifests itself in different parts of the body causing cyclical symptoms, like dysmenorrhea, as well as chronic symptoms, like infertility. The causes of endometriosis seem to be multifactorial and are still not fully understood. One factor in the pathogenesis of this disease is immunologic dysfunction, of which the cytokine system is the subject of this thesis. Cytokines are important signal molecules and play a crucial role in regulating inflammatory processes. Methods: A Pubmed search was conducted with the keywords ‘endometriosis’, ‘cytokines’, ‘diagnosis’, ‘biomarker’, therapy’ and references within identified papers were also reviewed. In addition, relevant textbooks in both English and German language were used. Results: Cytokines play an essential role in causing inflammatory processes associated with endometriotic implantation. They also contribute to the sustainment of the implants by inducing blood vessel formation in their environment and by deactivating immune reaction to the newly attached tissue. Furthermore, they are responsible for increasing the severity of endometriosis as they are associated with several symptoms and complications of the disease. With regard to diagnostics, cytokine levels in peritoneal fluid, peripheral blood and endometrial/endometriotic lesions were found to be changed compared with healthy controls. Conclusions: Based on these changes, cytokines may become part of a biomarker screening test for endometriosis that could replace today’s invasive and costly way of identifying the disease. With regard to therapy, cytokines and their related pathways may present a new target for medication that suppresses disease progression or treats symptoms, like pain, infertility and adhesion formation in women with endometriosis. Further illumination of the biomechanism of cytokines in endometriosis might lead to new strategies in diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis that can help patients to achieve a better quality of life.