Anna Maria Di Blasio

BACKGROUND: Combined oral contraceptives (COCs) represent a common pharmacological approach for endometriosis. They have been demonstrated to mitigate painful symptoms in patients and are considered the first line therapy for symptomatic di…

OBJECTIVE(S): Endometriosis is a major cause of infertility and disability for women, caused by the presence of inflammatory endometrial implants in extrauterine locations. Among the constituents involved in the immune response during the d…

STUDY QUESTION: Is it possible to replicate the genetic association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs13394619, rs4141819, rs7739264, rs17694933 and rs10859871 in five genetic loci previously identified as associated with endometr…

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent stimulus of angiogenesis potentially contri-buting to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association between the single…

BACKGROUND: Although endometriosis may benefit from primary prevention measures, the epidemiological risk factors identified are equivocal. Two genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted for endometriosis in two different et…

BACKGROUND: Pelvic inflammatory phenomena have been suggested as critical players in the natural history of endometriosis. However, to what extent these events could affect the systemic immunologic status remains to be clarified. Here, we c…

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate differences in endometrial stromal cell (ESC) migration between patients with and without endometriosis. DESIGN: Differences in ESC migration, cellular morphology, and cytoskeletal-actin dynamics were evaluated in re…

Endometriosis is a multifactorial disease that affects 6–10% of women of reproductive age. Epidemiological studies indicate that it is a polygenic disorder, with recurrence risks in first-degree relatives of approximately 2–9%. Thus, the cu…

Family and twin studies have shown that heritability accounts for endometriosis development to an extent similar to other complex genetic diseases. Both linkage analysis and association studies have been performed to identify genetic determ…

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent stimulus of angiogenesis potentially contributing to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association between the single …

An autoimmune etiology has been suggested for endometriosis mostly on the basis of an increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in affected women. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen (CTLA) 4 gene is recognized as a primary determinant for aut…

Summary objective Endometriosis is a steroid‐dependent disease with a particular genetic background, but the locations of possible genomic aberrations are still poorly clarified. We have investigated the potential association between endome…

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is a ligand for the integrins lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) and complement receptor-3 (Mac-1), making it an important partic-ipant in many immune and inflammatory processes. Prev…

It has been recently reported that serum concentrations of the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin are increased in patients affected by endometriosis. On the basis of these findings, the present study was undertaken to evaluate whether the pr…

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypothesis that soluble intercellular adhesions molecule-1 (sICAM-1) may be used as a new serum marker of endometriosis. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: An academic department specializing in gynec…

PROBLEM: Development and progression of endometriosis have been suggested to be related to a defect of NK cells in the ability to eliminate endometrial fragments regurgitated with menstrual debris in ectopic sites. However, it has not been …