Endometriosis and Microvascular Dysfunction: Role of Inflammation
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2026-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The purpose of this study is to better understand the underlying mechanisms associated with
elevated cardiovascular disease risk in women with endometriosis, and to measure the
effectiveness of emerging endometriosis treatments on outcomes specific to cardiovascular
dysfunction.
Epidemiologic data demonstrate a clear association between endometriosis, reproductive risk
factors, inflammation and cardiovascular (CV) risk. Circulating factors, low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) and oxidized LDL (oxLDL), are two of many biomarkers of cardiovascular and
inflammatory disease of endometriosis. An important signaling mechanism through which
circulating LDL and oxLDL act is the lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor (LOX-1). LOX-1 signal
transduction functionally results in pronounced endothelial dysfunction, a hallmark of CV.
The investigators hypothesis that one factor mediating the elevated risk of cardiovascular
disease in endometriosis is systemic inflammation and activation of LOX-1 receptor
mechanisms.