Proceedings of Oncobiology Symposiums
Proceedings of XIV Oncobiology Symposium

Introduction and objectives: Endometriosis is a gynecological estrogen and angiogenesis dependentdisorder characterized by endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. It has a prevalence of 10-15% in women of reproductive age worldwide and it is associated with different symptoms, such as dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, dyspareunia, infertility, and cyclical intestinal and urinary complaints.Endometriosis is benign disease, however, certain aspects are similar to those found in cancer, such asincreasedproliferation, cell invasion and neoangiogenesis. Moreover, women with endometriosis, mainly with advanced stage, may have an increased risk of developing some types of gynecological cancers. An increase in serum levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) and LDL oxidation in women with endometriosis can promoting establishment, adhesion and development of endometriotic foci. However, this relationship is not well understood.Therefore, the present study aimed to review the correlation between endometriosis and lipidic profile. Materials and Methods: Prospero registration number CRD42020146646. Eligible studies were identified using four international databases (PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and SciELO), published in the last 15 years, and without languagerestrictions. All articles that measured serum lipid profile, by any method, from women with endometrios is compared with healthy women were included in this review. Results and conclusions: Eighty-nine publications were identified in the databases, but only 6 articles were eligible. All studies were case-control designs, with a total of 590 women.The studies included Brazilian, Italian, Turkish and Iranian populations. There was no significant difference in mean age between women with and without endometriosis. Four studies showed no significant difference regarding body mass index (BMI) between cases and controls, while two showed lower BMI in endometriosis women (P<0.05). Significant correlations were found between the lipidic profile and endometriosis. Four studies showed that total cholesterol and LDL were significantly increased in endometriosis patients (P<0.05) compared with control. However, three of them found a positive association between triglyceride levels and endometriosis. Interestingly, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) were increased in 3 studies and decreased in two other studies in women with endometriosis when compared to controls. Finally, only one study found a controversial significant association between endometriosis and lower levels of LDL (P=0.001).It is possible to observe that most of these studies had a small sample size, varying from 39 to 204 women.The relationship between cholesterol and endometriosis is unclear, however, drugs that reduce cholesterol levels can be a potential therapeutic target for endometriosis.