Urocortin Expression in Endometriosis: A Systematic Review

Urocortin is a neuropeptide belonging to the corticotrophin-releasing hormone family and is expressed by eutopic and ectopic human endometrium and the last years is investigated in the field of endometriosis. The objective of this systematic review is to accumulate current evidence related to the expression of urocortin in tissue and blood samples of patients suffering from endometriosis. Literature search was designed according to the PRISMA guidelines and primarily conducted using the Medline (1966–2018), Scopus (2004–2018), EMBASE (1947-2018) and Clinicaltrials.gov (2008–2018) databases, along with the reference lists of electronically retrieved full-text papers. Overall, 9 studies were retrieved. Current evidence suggests that the expression of urocortin is increased in patients with ovarian endometriomas and that its levels may correlate with the severity of the disease. The diagnostic efficacy of plasma levels of UCN1 was evaluated in three studies. Two of them suggested that the sensitivity and specificity of the method may reach, and even exceed, 80%. However, the wide variation in outcome reporting and outcome reporting measures concerning the expression of UCN in endometriosis among the included studies precluded quantitative synthesis of results in a meta-analytic approach. Current evidence suggests that UCN may be a promising factor for the identification and follow-up of patients that suffer from endometriosis. However, more studies are needed to fully elucidate whether an association of plasma levels of UCN with tissue levels exists and to investigate the predictive efficacy of UCN.