Tobacco smoking and risk of endometriosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Objective Since conflicting results have been published on the role of tobacco smoking on the risk of endometriosis, we provide an up-to-date summary quantification of this potential association. Design We performed a PubMed/MEDLINE search of the relevant publications up to September 2014, considering studies on humans published in English. We searched the reference list of the identified papers to find other relevant publications. Case–control as well as cohort studies have been included reporting risk estimates on the association between tobacco smoking and endometriosis. 38 of the 1758 screened papers met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies included a total of 13 129 women diagn…
Gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in endometriosis identifies genes altered in non-gynaecologic chronic inflammatory diseases
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 compared the gene expression profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from endometriosis patients in the severe diseased stage with the profile after a conventional surgical treatment for removal of endometriotic lesions and adhesions.   methods: Microarray analysis included four patients suffering from severe endometriosis in which blood samples were obtained few days before the surgical intervention and again 6 months later. Real-time quantitative…