Researchers at Cedars-Sinai have developed a specific and comprehensive molecular profile of endometriosis to enhance treatment options for the many women affected by this condition.
Endometriosis is a condition in which cells of the uterine lining, or ones similar to endometrial tissue, are found growing in the wrong places, most commonly on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and in the abdominal cavity. The disease impacts about 10% of women, usually during their reproductive years. Patients with the disorder can experience chronic pain, infertility, headaches, fatigue, and bowel and bladder dysfunction.
“We generated a cellular atlas of endometriosis after analyzing nearly 400,000 individual cells from these patients. We were able to identify the molecular differences between the major subtypes of endometriosis, including peritoneal disease and ovarian endometrioma,” said Lawrenson, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.
“The disease can travel throughout the body, so in many ways it behaves like cancer. But why does endometriosis behave like cancer while rarely becoming cancer? Large-scale next generation sequencing projects have been incredibly helpful in understanding how cancer works and in designing targeted therapeutics. We expect it can do the same for endometriosis,” said Lawrenson, co-director of the Women’s Cancer Research Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer.