Article: Endometriosis ROSE Study Hopes to Create Diagnostic Tool Using Menstrual Blood

[Sly Saint]

In the quest to better understand endometriosis and find a less-invasive way to diagnose and treat the condition, one research team is going where few others dared to go — menstrual blood. Welcome to the Research Out-Smarts Endometriosis (ROSE) study, which its team hopes are a series of breakthroughs for a notoriously debilitating condition.

Helmed by researchers Christine Metz, Ph.D. and Peter Gregersen, M.D., the ROSE study, which was launched five years ago, aims to create a way to diagnose endometriosis sooner, without surgery. From there, the ROSE team hopes their data, collected from menstrual blood samples, will shed light on the progression of endometriosis, its genetic basis, why it leads to infertility and new potential treatment options.

Once ROSE researchers have menstrual blood samples in their lab, the team pursues several avenues of research. One of their early aims focuses on diagnosing endometriosis earlier by comparing menstrual blood samples from people with and without endometriosis. So far Metz and her team discovered key differences in the “cellular composition” of menstrual blood from endo patients as well as differences “in the functional activity of a subset of cells called stromal cells.”

By identifying these differences, Metz is confident they will be able to develop a more effective diagnostic or screening tool so women with endometriosis get a diagnosis much sooner.

full article here:
https://themighty.com/2020/01/rose-study-endometriosis-diagnostic-test/

 

[rvallee]

In the quest to better understand endometriosis and find a less-invasive way to diagnose and treat the condition, one research team is going where few others dared to go — menstrual blood

So... the most obvious first place to look? And few dared to go for decades? OK. Totally optimal.