Stromal and epithelial cells of endometriosis from different anatomical sites share the same genomic imbalances, suggesting a common origin

Abstract

Endometriosis (EDT) is a prevalent and chronic gynecological disease characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. Although EDT is considered a benign disease, it presents some characteristics similar to tumors, such as genetic alterations deregulating cell proliferation, invasiveness, metastasis, apoptosis and immune response evasion. High Resolution Comparative Genomic Hybridization (HR-CGH) is a tool for screening of genomic imbalances in distinct cell components and requires a minimal amount of tissue and DNA, such as occurs in EDT.