Hypothesis
Version 1
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Endometriosis Etiology: Hypothesis of Maternal Microchimerism
Version 1
: Received: 21 September 2021 / Approved: 22 September 2021 / Online: 22 September 2021 (10:27:52 CEST)
How to cite: Barad, T. Endometriosis Etiology: Hypothesis of Maternal Microchimerism. Preprints 2021, 2021090372. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202109.0372.v1 Barad, T. Endometriosis Etiology: Hypothesis of Maternal Microchimerism. Preprints 2021, 2021090372. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202109.0372.v1
Abstract
Endometriosis is an oestrogen-dependant reproductive disease, with genetic, vascular, neural, inflammatory and auto-immune characteristics. There are many theories about the etiology of endometriosis, however, all of these theories have limitations and do not explain all the locations that endometriosis is found or types of patients with endometriosis. The objective of this paper is to postulate the hypothesis that endometriosis is caused by Maternal Microchimerism, the presence of maternal cells in the fetus. A literature review was conducted, analysing the characteristics, current etiological theories of endometriosis, theory limitations and relationship of maternal microchimerism and endometriosis. At time of writing, there was no literature on maternal microchimerism and endometriosis. These results suggest that Maternal Microchimerism could be a cause of endometriosis. This could account for the genetic and auto-immune characteristics seen in people with endometriosis, inducing a micro-environment for vascular, neural and epigenetic changes. This could also account for account for endometriosis seen in non-menstruating patients, such as men, fetuses and post-menopausal women and endometriosis found in non-peritoneal locations. If the hypothesis of Maternal Microchimerism is correct, endometriosis could be considered a pregnancy-related disease that could affect all humans, changing the accepted demographics of patients and potentially new diagnostic techniques and treatment options for patients with endometriosis. Further studies are needed to test this hypothesis.
Keywords
Endometriosis; microchimerism; maternal microchimerism; reproduction; gynaecology; etiology; auto-immune; immune response; hormonal; vascular; genetic; hereditary; male; fetal; fetus; stem cells; pregnancy; Műllerianosis; embryology; ROS; apoptosis; disease; endometrium; basalis; menstruation; post-menopausal; neurogenesis
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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