When the present study was started, evidence concerning the crucial role of apoptosis in the regulation of reproductive systems in animal models was accumulating. Therefore, we decided to elucidate the role of apoptosis in the human female reproductive system (i.e ovary and endometrium), which was virtually not studied at all, and to determine the factors that control this process.
The specific aims were to study:
Apoptosis and its regulation in human fetal and adult ovary
The role of apoptosis during follicular development and corpus luteum regression
The role of apoptosis in the endometrium during normal endometrial cycles and in endometrial hyperplasias and cancer.