USP2 is associated with mitochondrial respiratory activity and cell viability in endometrial stromal cells in endometriosis.

This study asks whether ubiquitin-specific protease 2 (USP2) regulates mitochondrial respiration and proliferation in ectopic endometrial stromal cells from women with ovarian endometriosis. The authors found that USP2 is more highly expressed in ectopic than in paired eutopic tissue, and that USP2 knockdown in ectopic cells reduced proliferation, ATP, oxygen consumption, and complex IV activity while raising ROS, with overexpression in eutopic cells producing the opposite effects. These findings suggest USP2 may contribute to the proliferative and mitochondrial phenotype of ectopic endometrial stromal cells, though the work is correlative and conducted in vitro with a small patient cohort.