Following the news that scientists at Cedars-Sinai have successfully mapped the cellular changes linked to endometriosis;

Amy Murray, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Despite its high prevalence and cost, endometriosis remains an understudied disease. This lack of research has greatly limited understanding and slowed much-needed innovation in treatment options.

“The majority of current medical therapies treat endometriosis by targeting the estrogen production pathways, or by modulating the menstrual cycle. However, these modalities do not sufficiently address the underlying pathology, and women consequently only experience relief while using the therapies—and often experience recurrence upon treatment termination. This leaves a gaping unmet need in the endometriosis field for effective therapies that target the underlying cause of the disease, rather than the symptoms themselves.

“The genetic map, created by the team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, will help to overcome this issue by improving knowledge surrounding the key cellular signatures involved in the genesis of this chronic and progressive disease, which could open the door to novel therapeutic targets. The team at Cedars-Sinai collected more than 400,000 cells from the pelvic tissue of endometriosis patients and applied single-cell genomic sequencing to generate a cellular atlas of endometriosis. This enabled the researchers to profile many different cell types contributing to the disease and identify the key molecular differences between the major subtypes of endometriosis, including peritoneal disease and ovarian endometrioma.

“In particular, the map led the team to identify a genetic mutation linked to the lymphatic vessels surrounding endometriotic lesions, which could represent a promising target for drug treatment in the future. It is hoped that the insights provided by the genetic map will lead to the development of more targeted treatment options in the future for the millions of women suffering from the disease.”