Molecular Biology Techniques for Endometrial Gene Expression: Recent Technological Advances

Abstract

The characterization of the endometrium is of great difficulty because of its complicated structure and dynamic change along with the menstrual cycle. Huge labor and high cost are required to get the multidimensional information of endometrium, which limits the comprehensive characterization of the endometrium. The molecular biology advances now allow the high-throughput quantification of the gene expression of the endometrium. In this review, the commonly used techniques for transcriptome profiling are systematically introduced. Furthermore, their applications in the global view of endometrial gene expression under physiological or pathological conditions are summarized. These studies have deepened our understanding of the structure and the periodic change of endometrium, which will guide the clinical activities in the diagnosis and the therapy for endometrial disorders, and even endometrial cancer.