Abstract
Uterine fibroids (UFs) are the most frequent gynecologic tumors, affecting 70 to 80%
of women over their lifetime, Although these tumors are benign, they can cause significant
morbidity and may require invasive treatments such as myomectomy and hysterectomy
in premenopausal women at a cost of up to $34 billion per year. Many risk factors
for these tumors have been identified, including environmental exposures to endocrine-disrupting
chemicals such as genistein and diethylstilbestrol (and other environmental agents)
resulting in hyper-responsiveness to hormone in the adult uterus and promotion of
hormone-dependent UFs. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis
of UFs is largely unknown, a growing body of evidence implicates unfavorable early-life
environmental exposure and multiple biological pathways express as potentially import
contributors. In this article, we will review the role of genetic and epigenetics
in the conversion of myometrial stem cells to tumor (fibroid) initiating cells, and
their role in UF development.
Keywords
myometrial stem cells - tumor-initiating cells - endocrine-disrupting chemicals -
epigenetic reprograming - biology of uterine fibroids
