Towards a Better Understanding of Endometriosis-Related Infertility: A Review on How Endometriosis Affects Endometrial Receptivity

Endometriosis is the most common cause of infertility. Endometrial receptivity has been suggested to contribute to infertility and poor reproductive outcomes in affected women. Even though experimental and clinical data suggest that the endometrium differs in women with endometriosis, the pathogenesis of impaired endometrial receptivity remains incomplete. Therefore, this review summarizes the potential mechanisms that affect endometrial function and contribute to implantation failure. Contemporary data regarding hormone imbalance, inflammation, and immunoregulatory dysfunction will be reviewed here. In addition, genetic, epigenetic, glycosylation, metabolism and microRNA in endometriosis-related infertility/subfertility will be summarized. We provide a brief discussion and perspectives on their future clinical implications in the diagnosis and therapy to improve endometrial function in affected women.

Automated summary

Endometriosis is the leading cause of infertility, and its mechanisms leading to implantation failure include hormone imbalance, inflammation, and immune regulatory dysfunction. This review provides an overview of current research on endometriosis-related infertility/subfertility, focusing on factors such as genetic, epigenetic, glycosylation, metabolism, and microRNA. The future clinical implications of these factors in the diagnosis and therapy to improve endometrial function are also discussed.