Fertility and Sterility
Volume 84, Issue 2 , Pages 305-312 , August 2005

Increased dioxin-like compounds in the serum of women with peritoneal endometriosis and deep endometriotic (adenomyotic) nodules

  • Jean-François Heilier, Pharm.D.

      Affiliations

    • Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Medicine Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Jean-François Heilier, TOXI 30.54, Clos Chapelle aux champs, Woluwe B-1200, Belgium (FAX: 32-02-764-32-28).
    • ,
  • Fabienne Nackers, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Epidemiology Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • ,
  • Violaine Verougstraete, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Medicine Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • ,
  • René Tonglet, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Epidemiology Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • ,
  • Dominique Lison, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Medicine Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • ,
  • Jacques Donnez, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Gynaecology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
    • Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

Received 9 July 2004 ,Accepted 4 April 2005.

References 

  1. Sampson JA . Peritoneal endometriosis due to menstrual dissemination of endometrial tissue into the peritoneal cavity . Am J Obstet Gynecol . 1927;14:422–469
  2. Donnez J , Van Langendonckt A , Casanas-Roux F , Van Gossum JP , Pirard C , Jadoul P , et al.   Current thinking on the pathogenesis of endometriosis . Gynecol Obstet Invest . 2002;54:52–58
  3. Donnez J , Nisolle M , Smoes P , Gillet N , Beguin S , Casanas-Roux F . Peritoneal endometriosis and “endometriotic” nodules of the rectovaginal septum are two different entities . Fertil Steril . 1996;66:362–368
  4. Nisolle M , Donnez J . Peritoneal endometriosis, ovarian endometriosis, and adenomyotic nodules of the rectovaginal septum are three different entities . Fertil Steril . 1997;68:585–596
  5. Donnez J , Donnez O , Squifflet J , Nisolle M . The concept of “adenomyotic disease of the retroperitoneal space” is born . Gynaecol Endosc . 2001;10:91–94
  6. Birnbaum LS , Cummings AM . Dioxins and endometriosis (a plausible hypothesis) . Environ Health Perspect . 2002;110:15–21
  7. Kitawaki J , Kado N , Ishihara H , Koshiba H , Kitaoka Y , Honjo H . Endometriosis (the pathophysiology as an estrogen-dependent disease) . J Ster Biochem Mol Biol . 2002;83:149–155
  8. Hahn ME . Evolutionary and physiological perspectives on Ah receptor function and dioxin toxicity . In:  Schecter A ,  Gasiewicz TA editor. Dioxins and health . 2nd ed.. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience; 2003;p. 559–602
  9. Mimura J , Fujii-Kuriyama Y . Functional role of AhR in the expression of toxic effects by TCDD . Biochim Biophys Acta . 2003;1619:263–268
  10. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry . Polychlorinated biphenyls . 2000; Update November
  11. van den Berg M , Birnbaum L , Bosveld AT , Brunstrom B , Cook P , Feeley M , et al.   Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) for PCBs, PCDDs, PCDFs for humans and wildlife . Environ Health Perspect . 1998;106:775–792
  12. Abraham K , Papke O , Gross A , Kordonouri O , Wiegand S , Wahn U , et al.   Time course of PCDD/PCDF/PCB concentrations in breastfeeding mothers and their infants . Chemosphere . 1998;37:1731–1741
  13. Rier SE , Martin DC , Bowman RE , Dmowski WP , Becker JL . Endometriosis in Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) following chronic exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin . Fundam Appl Toxicol . 1993;21:433–441
  14. Rier SE , Turner WE , Martin DC , Morris R , Lucier GW , Clark GC . Serum levels of TCDD and dioxin-like chemicals in Rhesus monkeys chronically exposed to dioxin (correlation of increased serum PCB levels with endometriosis) . Toxicol Sci . 2001;59:147–159
  15. Yang JZ , Agarwal SK , Foster WG . Subchronic exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin modulates the pathophysiology of endometriosis in the cynomolgus monkey . Toxicol Sci . 2000;56:374–381
  16. Eskenazi B , Mocarelli P , Warner M , Samuels S , Vercellini P , Olive D , et al.   Serum dioxin concentrations and endometriosis (a cohort study in Seveso, Italy) . Environ Health Perspect . 2002;110:629–634
  17. Mayani A , Barel S , Soback S , Almagor M . Dioxin concentrations in women with endometriosis . Hum Reprod . 1997;12:373–375
  18. Pauwels A , Schepens PJ , D’Hooghe T , Delbeke L , Dhont M , Brouwer A , et al.   The risk of endometriosis and exposure to dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (a case-control study of infertile women) . Hum Reprod . 2001;16:2050–2055
  19. Lebel G , Dodin S , Ayotte P , Marcoux S , Ferron LA , Dewailly E . Organochlorine exposure and the risk of endometriosis . Fertil Steril . 1998;69:221–228
  20. Heilier JF , Ha AT , Lison D , Donnez J , Tonglet R , Nackers F . Increased serum polychlorobiphenyl levels in Belgian women with adenomyotic nodules of the rectovaginal septum . Fertil Steril . 2004;81:456–458
  21. Squifflet J , Feger C , Donnez J . Diagnosis and imaging of adenomyotic disease of the retroperitoneal space . Gynecol Obstet Invest . 2002;54:43–51
  22. Donnez J , Nisolle M , Gillerot S , Smets M , Bassil S , Casanas-Roux F . Rectovaginal septum adenomyotic nodules (a series of 500 cases) . Br J Obstet Gynaecol . 1997;104:1014–1018
  23. American Society for Reproductive Medicine . Revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine classification of endometriosis (1996) . Fertil Steril . 1997;67:817–821
  24. Focant JF , De Pauw E . Fast automated extraction and clean-up of biological fluids for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls analysis . J Chromatogr B . 2002;776:199–212
  25. Akins JR , Waldrep K , Bernert JT . The estimation of total serum lipids by a completely enzymic “summation” method . Clin Chim Acta . 1989;184:219–226
  26. Brown JF , Lawton RW . Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) partitioning between adipose tissue and serum . Bull Environ Contam Toxicol . 1984;33:277–280
  27. Patterson DG , Turner WE , Isaacs SG , Alexander LR . A method performance evaluation and lessons learned after analyzing more than 5,000 human adipose tissue, serum, and breast milk samples for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) . Chemosphere . 1990;20:829–836
  28. Kleinbaum DG , Kupper LL , Muller KE , Nizam A . In: Applied regression analysis and other multivariate methods . 3rd ed.. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxburry Press; 1998;
  29. Hosmer DW , Lemeshow S . Applied logistic regression . New York: Wiley; 1989;
  30. In:  Kleinbaum DG ,  Klein M editor. Logistic regression (a self-learning text) . 2nd ed.. New York: Springer; 2002;
  31. Mahmood TA , Templeton A . Prevalence and genesis of endometriosis . Hum Reprod . 1991;6:544–549
  32. Cramer DW , Wilson E , Stillman RJ , Berger MJ , Belisle S , Schiff I , et al.   The relation of endometriosis to menstrual characteristics, smoking, and exercise . JAMA . 1986;255:1904–1908
  33. Moen MH , Magnus P . The familial risk of endometriosis . Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand . 1993;72:560–564
  34. Gerhard I , Runnebaum B . [The limits of hormone substitution in pollutant exposure and fertility disorders] . Zentralbl Gynakol . 1992;114:593–602
  35. Rier S , Foster WG . Environmental dioxins and endometriosis . Toxicol Sci . 2002;70:161–170
  36. Brown DJ , Chu M , Van Overmeire I , Chu A , Clark GC . Determination of REP values for the CALUX bioassay and comparison to the WHO TEF values . Organohalogen Compounds . 2001;53:211–214
  37. Takahashi K , Nagata H , Kitao M . Clinical usefulness of determination of estradiol level in the menstrual blood for patients with endometriosis . Nippon Sanka Fujinka Gakkai Zasshi . 1989;41:1849–1850
  38. Ohtake F , Takeyama K , Matsumoto T , Kitagawa H , Yamamoto Y , Nohara K , et al.   Modulation of oestrogen receptor signalling by association with the activated dioxin receptor . Nature . 2003;423:545–550
  39. Kitawaki J , Noguchi T , Amatsu T , Maeda K , Tsukamoto K , Yamamoto T , et al.   Expression of aromatase cytochrome P450 protein and messenger ribonucleic acid in human endometriotic and adenomyotic tissues but not in normal endometrium . Biol Reprod . 1997;57:514–519
  40. Koninckx PR , Braet P , Kennedy SH , Barlow DH . Dioxin pollution and endometriosis in Belgium . Hum Reprod . 1994;9:1001–1002

 This work was supported by grant no. 3.4587.01 from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale, Belgium.

PII: S0015-0282(05)00860-5

doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.04.001

Fertility and Sterility
Volume 84, Issue 2 , Pages 305-312 , August 2005

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution