Endometriosis affects around 10% of women and diagnosis takes seven years on average, often requiring surgery. A French study published in the journal BMC Medicine points to a promising alternative: analysing menstrual blood.
The team, which brought together Inserm, the Institut Pasteur, Université Lyon 1 and the Centre Léon-Bérard, collected menstrual blood from ten menstrual cup users aged between 18 and 45, some with deep endometriosis and others healthy. The scientists analysed gene expression in each cell type.
Differences were detected between patients and healthy women, particularly in epithelial cells, and five disease-specific biomarkers were validated in a simpler, cheaper analysis of whole menstrual fluid.
The authors stress that this is a pilot study and that larger groups will be needed before any clinical use. A patent application has already been filed by the Institut Pasteur, together with Inserm, the CNRS and Université Paris Cité.
