available as a pre-print and yet to be published<\/a>, the international team of female scientists based in Barcelona and Gran Canaria were the first to analyse freshly isolated MenSCs using a process called DNA methylation profiling, which is already widely used to diagnose cancer. <\/p>\nThey were clearly able to distinguish which of the 42 women participating had endometriosis from those without \u2013 to an accuracy of 81 per cent.<\/p>\n
The approach means scientists can use readily available menstrual blood samples to accurately diagnose and categorise endometriosis, a significantly less invasive process for patients than the current diagnostic gold standard of a laparoscopy.<\/p>\n
Patient Becca Fowler, 40, who was diagnosed after 14 years of symptoms, described the development as \u201clife changing\u201d. She eventually needed nine separate surgeries on her bowels, kidney, liver and bladder to remove endometrial tissue, causing her body \u201cirreversible damage\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really brilliant for all the people that won\u2019t have to go through what I did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Paving the way for tailored treatment of the disease<\/p>\n
The methylation patterns identified were not only predictive of endometriosis but also revealed how endometriosis was behaving in different patients. The ability to profile patients individually provides important clues about how the disease develops and why it affects people in different ways, paving the way for more personalised treatments, the team said.<\/p>\n
The researchers hope the new technology will enable clinicians to detect endometriosis far earlier and without surgical intervention, reducing endometriosis diagnosis times from up to 10 years to just a few weeks.<\/p>\n
The research team also hopes their work will lead to new targeted therapies to treat different types of endometriosis. Their approach could enable clinicians to prioritise patients based on how the disease is behaving, and give patients access to targeted treatments before the condition has advanced.<\/p>\n
The study was carried out by researchers at Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria and Hospital Cl\u00ednic Barcelona \u2013 a leading centre in endometriosis care and research \u2013 and led by endogene.bio: a Paris-based precision medicine organisation backed by UK investors.<\/p>\n
\u2018We are redefining how we look at endometriosis\u2019<\/p>\n
Dr Mar\u00eda Teresa P\u00e9rez Zaballos, co-founder and chief executive at endogene.bio, told The i Paper her motivation for endometriosis research came following her own diagnosis at the age of 27, \u201cafter five years of doctors, surgeries and failed treatments for the wrong conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said the impact of the study lies not just in the diagnosis, but also in understanding how the disease behaves in a bid to find new treatments.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstanding disease biology is what has gotten every therapeutic area to have better drugs, and we want to do the same for endometriosis,\u201d Dr P\u00e9rez Zaballos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to do so non-invasively is key to moving women\u2019s health from a field that relies heavily on symptom-based medicine, to molecular-based medicine in a personalised and accessible way that is difficult to do with biopsies and invasive procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr P\u00e9rez Zaballos said the team is already working with the pharma industry and \u201clooking at a three-year timeline to regulatory approval\u201d for patients to start being offered the new test.<\/p>\n
Dr Francisco Carmona, a former president of the International Society of Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders, and co-author of the study, said it was \u201ca significant leap forward\u201d in understanding the biology of endometriosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has far-reaching implications: the methods tested could power the development of non-invasive patient stratification and diagnosis, better treatments and personalised care pathways, transforming the lived experience of patients with endometriosis and how we approach their care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Endometriosis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_270444579.jpg\")
The researchers are carrying out two more clinical trials using a larger group of patients<\/p>\n
Douglas Gibson, principal investigator in the Centre for Inflammation Research at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study, said that although the authors only looked at a small number of samples \u2013 and the research was in its early stages \u201cit has promise as a future diagnostic approach\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe approach is relatively novel because rather than focusing on all cells in the menstrual blood, they have separated out a specific subset called menstrual stem cells. Changes in this subset have previously been associated with endometriosis, and in this study, they found differences in their genetic markers, which could be used to identify those with endometriosis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis study would be of interest to patients because it gives insights into how menstruation might be different in endometriosis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Many women have felt their pain was ignored or minimised for too long\u2019<\/p>\n
The researchers are carrying out two more clinical trials using a larger group of patients, which they hope will validate their findings with the goal of developing a non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis.<\/p>\n
Dr Carmona, who has been working on improving endometriosis care and treatment for 30 years, said: \u201cEndometriosis is a truly devastating disease that causes deep physical and emotional suffering, and for too long, many women have felt their pain was ignored or minimised.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described the team\u2019s breakthrough as \u201can incredibly moving moment\u201d and added: \u201cWhen you dedicate so many years to understanding a disease that causes so much suffering, seeing real progress feels both humbling and inspiring. I felt a deep sense of hope \u2013 not for myself, but for the thousands of women who might finally receive answers and relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience can be slow, but when you realise that what you are doing could truly change patients\u2019 lives, it reminds you why you started in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A new test for endometriosis? It\u2019s about bloody time\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Becca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_270449415.jpg\")
Becca Fowler\u2019s diagnosis took 14 years and she has gone through nine surgeries <\/p>\n
An endometriosis sufferer whose diagnosis took 14 years and has gone through nine surgeries said the new test is \u201cabout bloody time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Becca Fowler, a 40-year-old data analyst from East Sussex, said that if the test had been available when she first got symptoms as a teenager, her life would have been \u201cso different\u201d.<\/p>\n
After finally getting diagnosed at age 30, she had nine surgeries to remove the endometrial growths that had spread to her bowels, kidney, liver and bladder. She said this caused \u201cirreversible damage\u201d, which means she still has to self-catheterise while on her period \u2013 and is likely to have issues for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n
She told The i Paper: \u201cI have no doubt that if this kind of diagnostic test was available to me when I was a teenager, I wouldn\u2019t now have needed nine surgeries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to self-catheterise when I\u2019m on my period because I can\u2019t urinate. I have damage to my body that is irreparable. My life could have been so different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler said her 30s were \u201cbasically non-existent\u201d as she lost the decade either having invasive surgeries or recovering from them.<\/p>\n
She said it makes her \u201creally sad\u201d to think of how different her life would have been if the research had been funded and prioritised earlier, but added: \u201cIt\u2019s really brilliant for all the people that won\u2019t have to go through what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler said the diagnostic test will be \u201clife changing\u201d to patients in terms of getting a swift diagnosis and better treatment, but also validating to those who have been told the pain is in their head.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about bloody time,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s been so little research done into endometriosis, and it affects 10 per cent of people that have periods worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re now getting to the point where there are potential markers in menstrual blood that means that we can be diagnosed without having the invasive procedures, it will just be life changing. It will be game changing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One woman who suffered debilitating symptoms for 14 years before she finally received a diagnosis described the news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15013,59,102,56,54,55,13963],"class_list":["post-208256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-endometriosis","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-womens-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}