Objective

In an attempt to clarify the mechanisms involved in the origin and evolution of endometriosis, a public health problem, many studies have aimed to define the gene expression profile of the disease by using different large-scale gene screening methodologies. Although well studied, the pathogenesis of this disease remains unknown, compromising our knowledge of its origin and thereby our development of better diagnostic methods and treatments.

In addition to using different methodologies, parameter analysis, and tissue type comparisons, studies use nonhomogeneous samples (different phases of the menstrual cycle and/or disease stage) that are known to influence gene expression.

Owing to the wide variety of existing parameters in these studies, the results are disparate and difficult to compile. Thus, it became necessary to search for methods that can collate and associate relevant information by facilitating the crossing of converging data, thereby improving our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that initiate endometriosis as well as directing future investigations.

Study Design

For this purpose, we developed the first World Wide Web tool that is able to store, retrieve, compare, and correlate data from the scientific literature describing comparative studies on the gene expression profile of endometriosis; thus, we tried to identify the genes related to its pathogenesis and possible pathways involved therein.

Study Design

For this purpose, we developed the first World Wide Web tool that is able to store, retrieve, compare, and correlate data from the scientific literature describing comparative studies on the gene expression profile of endometriosis; thus, we tried to identify the genes related to its pathogenesis and possible pathways involved therein.

Results

The database is utilized by professionals and researchers in this field, and it includes data from research reported in scientific papers that have a digital object identifier. From each article, only data regarding the endometriosis lesion location, disease stage, menstrual cycle phase in which the samples were collected, patient symptoms, gene screening methodology used, and data of higher or lower gene expression obtained via these methodologies are selected. To date, the objectives and data of 13 articles have been deemed suitable for the proposed system. The system also allows researchers to register new articles that have since been published.

Among the main system features, we highlight the registration, article search, and search for differentially expressed genes in women with endometriosis. The system offers supplemental material with instructions for registering articles (“The System” – “Registering Your Article” panel.) Thus, the user can obtain information about the standards adopted by the system for the registration process.

After system registration, the article is recognized in article and gene searches. Through a gene search, the user can identify similarities between the gene expression results recorded in the system and their own results. For this, the user must access the gene search page and specify filters to perform the search. The filter “ Gene Expression ” helps the user specify whether he or she wants only the most expressed (“Up-Regulated”) genes or only the less expressed (“Down-Regulated”) genes to be searched. If the user selects the “ Differentially Expressed ” option, the system will search for both highly and less expressed genes. The “ Minimum Frequency in Articles ” filter specifies the minimum frequency at which genes should appear in the articles. In addition to specifying information about the gene expression data, the user can specify the clinical data of articles of interest in which genes should be searched.

The developed Endometriosis Research System (EndoReS) is available on the World Wide Web ( http://bioinfo1.fmrp.usp.br:8080/endomet ), and it is registered by the National Institute of Industrial Records (INPI/SP) (BR 51 2014 000804-5).