In a recent clinical trial, published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers found that in tissue samples taken from endometriosis patients, the phytochemical resveratrol exhibited anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, resulting in improvements to genetic expressions related to endometriosis progression.
 
Endometriosis is an often painful disorder in which tissue called the endometrium grows outside of the uterus, and can result in a range of symptoms including pelvic pain, infertility, or reduced fertility. The authors of the study hypothesized that resveratrol, a phytochemical found in grapes, berries, peanuts, and some other plants, could exhibit anti-angiogenesis (reducing the development of new blood vessels), which could play a factor in the progression of endometriosis.
 
“Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is shown to play a crucial role in angiogenesis in peritoneal endometriosis,” the authors of the study said. “It is secreted by the eutopic endometrium, ectopic endometriotic tissue, and peritoneal fluid (PF) macrophages. Previous studies reported the higher concentration of VEGF in PF from patients with endometriosis compared to non-endometriotic controls and its correlation with disease stages.”
 
The other specific genetic expressions that the researchers believed resveratrol could ameliorate included Transforming growth factor-B (TGF-B),  and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), both of which are over-expressed in endometriosis patients in stages 3 and 4.
 
The authors collected tissue samples from 40 endometriosis patients, along with 15 non-endometriotic controls, from people between the ages of 19 and 45 years old. Treating the cells with resveratrol in vitro, the researchers found that resveratrol significantly reduced the expression of VEGF and MMP-9, but not TGF-B in the endometriosis samples. Because this was the first study to assess resveratrol’s impact on all three of these genetic factors in cells cultured from endometriosis patients, more research is needed, the authors of the study said.