Role of molecular signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis

The prevalence of genital endometriosis and adenomyosis, in particular, is tending to increase. The lack of a complete understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms and multifactorial causes of adenomyosis, the low effectiveness of existing drug therapy, and the importance of preserving reproductive function make it necessary to further study the pathogenesis of the disease, search for new non-invasive highly informative diagnostic methods and develop a new strategy for pathogenically based drug therapy. The review presents current data on the role of signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of the development of adenomyosis based on domestic and foreign literature sources retrieved from the electronic databases PubMed, CyberLeninka, and Google Scholar in the period from 1999 to 2020. Considerable emphasis is placed on the discussion of the research results in recent years. Based on the analysis, the role of transforming growth factor (TGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), dual-specificity protein phosphatase (PTEN), Notch receptors, and eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs) in the signaling of adenomyosis is presented. Further advanced study of signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis will allow developing highly specific and highly sensitive markers for non-invasive diagnostics, as well as new directions for drug treatment of the disease.