International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review The Pathogenesis of Endometriosis: Molecular and Cell Biology Insights 1, , 1, 2 3 Antonio Simone Laganà * y , Simone Garzon y , Martin Götte , Paola Viganò , Massimo Franchi 4, Fabio Ghezzi 1 and Dan C. Martin 5,6 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Filippo Del Ponte” Hospital, University of Insubria, Piazza Biroldi 1, 21100 Varese, Italy;
[email protected] (S.G.);
[email protected] (F.G.) 2 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Münster University Hospital, D-48149 Münster, Germany;
[email protected] 3 Reproductive Sciences Laboratory, Division of Genetics and Cell Biology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20136 Milan, Italy;
[email protected] 4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AOUI Verona, University of Verona, Piazzale Aristide Stefani 1, 37126 Verona, Italy;
[email protected] 5 School of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 910 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38163, USA;
[email protected] 6 Virginia Commonwealth University, 907 Floyd Ave, Richmond, VA 23284, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-39-0332-278111 Equal contributions (joint first authors). y Received: 2 October 2019; Accepted: 7 November 2019; Published: 10 November 2019 Abstract: The etiopathogenesis of endometriosis is a multifactorial process resulting in a heterogeneous disease. Considering that endometriosis etiology and pathogenesis are still far from being fully elucidated, the current review aims to offer a comprehensive summary of the available evidence. We performed a narrative review synthesizing the findings of the English literature retrieved from computerized databases from inception to June 2019, using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) unique ID term “Endometriosis” (ID:D004715) with “Etiology” (ID:Q000209), “Immunology” (ID:Q000276), “Genetics” (ID:D005823) and “Epigenesis, Genetic” (ID:D044127).