Proteomic analysis of the eutopic endometrium of patients with internal or external ademomyosis

Adenomyosis is a common benign gynecological condition causing abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, as well as infertility . Histologically, adenomyosis is defined by the presence of ectopic endometrial glands and stroma surrounded by hypertrophic and hyperplastic myometrium . Recent studies have defined two distinct phenotypes of adenomyosis based on the location of adenomyotic lesions within the myometrium: either predominantly in the inner layer (internal adenomyosis) or more confined to the outer layer (external adenomyosis) . Patients with external and internal adenomyosis phenotypes present radiological and clinical-demographic differences (. Although the exact etiology of the disease remains debated, some authors suggest that internal adenomyosis results from endometrial invasion or de novo from metaplasia of embryonic or adult stem cell transformation within the myometrium, while external adenomyosis may occur through invasion from adjacent endometriotic lesions or from differentiation of endometrial stem cells deposited during retrograde menstruation. In this work we compare the protein expression profile of the endometria of patients with either internal or external adenomyosis using a DIA-based label free approach.