Background: To identify endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) in
retrograde menstruation, in various endometriosis lesions, in normal control
tissues, and to investigate the association between eMSCs and endometriosis. We
also plan to evaluate the effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists
(GnRH-a) on eMSCs. Methods: Patients diagnosed with endometriosis were
included if they had experienced surgery during the time frame 1 January 2015 to
31 December 2019 in West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University.
Immunofluorescence was performed to identify eMSCs in those tissues with cell
surface markers PDGFR-/CD146. The percents of eMSCs in various tissues
were calculated, and compared using analysis of variance. A two-sided pvalue less than 0.05 showed significant difference. Results: This study
included 508 patients. eMSCs were identified in retrograde menstruation and
numerous pathologic specimen but were not detected in normal control tissues.
There was no significant difference in the percent of eMSCs between the GnRH-a
treatment group and the control group (p 0.05).
Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that eMSCs played a critical role in
the development and recurrence of endometriosis and that GnRH-a did not affect
eMSCs. Gynecologists should regard endometriosis as a chronic disease requiring
lifetime management, especially for patients with chronic pelvic pain.