The role of survivin in the pathogenesis of genital endometriosis, current application possibilities (literature review)

In the structure of gynecological diseases, genital endometriosis takes the third place, and its frequency tends to increase. Endometriosis occurs in 510% of women of reproductive age, in 3550% of patients with infertility and in 7080% of women with chronic pelvic pain. The frequency of spontaneous abortion in endometriosis ranges from 10 to 50%. Noteworthy is the fact that the delay in diagnosing and starting treatment is 5 to 10 years. The disadvantages of surgical treatment are the high relapse rate (up to 50% after 5 years from the start of treatment). Hormonal treatments are effective, but they also have serious side effects that limit them in the long run. Naturally, the great practical and social importance of genital endometriosis induced numerous studies on the etiology and pathogenesis, which, however, have not yet been fully elucidated. The widespread prevalence of genital endometriosis necessitates the search and development of new effective methods of diagnosis and treatment. The article presents data on survivin, which is one of the members of the family of apoptosis inhibitors encoded by the BIRC5 gene. Survivin is involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis and may be one of the early markers of the disease. Apoptosis is an important last step that determines the fate of the cell. Given recent developments in the search for targeted therapy for endometriosis, antagonists of apoptosis inhibitor proteins, including survivin, are considered as a potential target. Influence on the processes of programmed cell death can be a rather promising direction in the treatment of endometriosis. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the significance of surviving expression in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of endometriosis. 43 literature sources (domestic and foreign) were analyzed using various database (PubMed, PubMed central, Google Scholar, UpToDate).