Cited by 857Endometriosis Research and TreatmentReproductive System and PregnancyEctopic Pregnancy Diagnosis and Management

Immunobiology of endometriosis

Open access
Lebovic, Dan I, Mueller, Michael D, Taylor, Robert N·2001·Fertility and Sterility

Abstract

Objective To provide a review of the humoral and cellular immunology of endometriosis and to discuss the rationale for future approaches to diagnosis and treatment.Design Literature survey.Result(s) Defective immunosurveillance in women who are destined to develop endometriosis may allow for the survival of ectopic endometrial tissue. The evidence includes endometrial cell resistance to apoptosis, perhaps through the secretion of proteins that interfere with implant recognition and/or FasL expression by stromal cells, inducing apoptosis of Fas-bearing immune cells. Although the immune response may be defective, aspects of it clearly are enhanced in endometriosis, as is seen by the generalized polyclonal B-cell autoimmune activation and secretion of immune proteins. Several cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors (including vascular growth factors) are increased in women with endometriosis.Conclusion(s) A complex network of locally produced cytokines modulate the growth and inflammatory behavior of ectopic endometrial implants. Proinflammatory proteins from endometriotic lesions and associated immune cells contribute to the enhanced inflammatory reaction associated with endometriosis that subserves the survival of these lesions instead of leading to their demise.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/s0015-0282(00)01630-7

Cites

107 of 107 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

4 of the 111 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lebovic, D. I., Mueller, M. D., & Taylor, R. N.
Affiliations
  • University of Michigan (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Taylor, Robert N
Venue
Fertility and Sterility
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2001-01
Volume
75
Issue
1
Pages
1-10
ISSN
0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2017027476
Cited by
857
References
111
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 42
FWCI
7.01
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (1f32hd008517-01)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54HD037321, F32HD08517, U54 HD37321)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Endometriosis Research and Treatment
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Reproductive System and Pregnancy
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ectopic Pregnancy Diagnosis and Management
Keywords
endometriosis, immune surveillance, apoptosis resistance, Fas ligand, B cell activation, cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, vascular growth factors, inflammation
MeSH terms
Adult, Endometriosis, Endometrium, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Pregnancy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review