Figure 1.

Developmental origin of fibroids from myometrial stem cells. Intrauterine and early-life adverse environmental exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals may act as the early hit to induce normal myometrial stem cells’ reprogramming by hijacking epigenomic plasticity. The plasticity of the developing epigenome is susceptible to epigenomic changes in myometrial stem cells following later-life adverse exposures, thereby leading to mutations and their transformation into tumor-initiating stem cells. The development and growth of fibroids are mainly characterized by abnormal cell proliferation, inhibited apoptosis, DNA instability, excessive deposition of ECM, and other critical biological pathways. Abbreviations: ECM, extracellular matrix; MED12, RNA polymerase II transcriptional mediator complex subunit 12; ncRNAs, non-coding RNA.