1. The Formidable yet Unresolved Interplay between Endometriosis and Obesity.
- Author
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Pantelis A, Machairiotis N, and Lapatsanis DP
- Subjects
- Adiponectin genetics, Adiponectin metabolism, Adiposity genetics, Anthropometry, Bariatric Surgery methods, Biomarkers metabolism, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, Chemokines genetics, Chemokines metabolism, Endometriosis diagnosis, Endometriosis pathology, Endometriosis surgery, Female, Ghrelin genetics, Ghrelin metabolism, Humans, Leptin genetics, Leptin metabolism, Obesity diagnosis, Obesity pathology, Obesity surgery, Phenotype, Endometriosis genetics, Gene Expression Regulation, Gene-Environment Interaction, Obesity genetics, Phenomics methods
- Abstract
Obesity and endometriosis are two very common entities, yet there is uncertainty on their exact relationship. Observational studies have repeatedly shown an inverse correlation between endometriosis and a low body mass index (BMI). However, obesity does not protect against endometriosis and on the contrary an increased BMI may lead to more severe forms of the disease. Besides, BMI is not accurate in all cases of obesity. Consequently, other anthropometric and phenomic traits have been studied, including body adiposity content, as well as the effect of BMI early in life on the manifestation of endometriosis in adulthood. Some studies have shown that the phenotypic inverse correlation between the two entities has a genetic background; however, others have indicated that certain polymorphisms are linked with endometriosis in females with increased BMI. The advent of metabolic bariatric surgery and pertinent research have led to the emergence of biomolecules that may be pivotal in understanding the pathophysiological interaction of the two entities, especially in the context of angiogenesis and inflammation. Future research should focus on three objectives: detection and interpretation of obesity-related biomarkers in experimental models with endometriosis; integration of endometriosis-related queries into bariatric registries; and multidisciplinary approach and collaboration among specialists., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Athanasios Pantelis et al.)
- Published
- 2021
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