Somatic Stem Cells in the Human Endometrium

The existence of human endometrial somatic stem cells was proposed in the mid-20th century for the first time. This hypothesis became stronger and was revised by two authors between 1978 and 1989. Nevertheless, it was not until 2004 that scientific evidence was first published. As we describe here, the great regenerative capability of the human endometrium has been finally questioned in the last 8 years, and this period can be considered the most productive in endometrial stem cell biology given the new scientific information recapitulated to date. We provide a detailed summary based on the actual scientific knowledge obtained about (1) the existence of somatic stem cells in murine (detected with label-retaining cell methods) and human (cells isolated by different methods) endometria, (2) the involvement of bone marrow as a putative extrauterine source of endometrial somatic stem cells, (3) the implication and biological pathways of these cells in several pathologies like endometriosis and endometrial cancer, and (4) the future of endometrial somatic stem cells in regenerative medicine to provide new strategies in autologous transplant and bioengineering.