The case in summary A Norwegian research project led by Sintef is seeking a cure for endometriosis, a disease that affects up to one in ten Norwegian women. Current treatment for endometriosis focuses mainly on relieving pain, but does not eliminate the problem. The research project will use tools from cancer research, as endometriosis is similar to cancer in that cells grow uncontrollably in the wrong place in the body. Among other things, the researchers will test making the endometriosis tissue “light up” to make it easier to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue during operations. The project starts in January and will last four years, with a total investment of NOK 15 million. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Hanne Haslene-Hox stands in a laboratory on the fourth floor of the chemistry building at Gløshaugen in Trondheim. She has put on her lab coat and safety glasses. Here, samples from hundreds of Norwegian women will be tested. – Today’s treatment for endometriosis is mostly about preventing pain. But that doesn’t really remove the problem. That is precisely what she and the team at Sintef will try to find new solutions for. Together with, among others, St. Olav’s hospital, Oslo University Hospital and the Endometriosis Association will try to understand the disease better. Because this is a disease where some Norwegian women live in a hell of pain. From cancer to endometriosis Today, the treatment of endometriosis is limited. For some, birth control pills help. Others may have an operation to remove the tissue that has started to grow outside the uterus. At the lab in Trondheim, they will use tools that are used in cancer research to see if they can get a little further. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news Endometriosis is similar to cancer, in that it is a disease where cells grow uncontrollably in the wrong place in the body. There are also inflammatory reactions in the tissue and formation of blood vessels. – When the tissue develops so similarly, it should also have similarities when it comes to the ridge we can study it, says Haslene-Hox. This is endometriosis Endometriosis is an inflammation-like condition in which tissue similar to that in the uterus grows outside the uterus. It takes an average of seven years to be diagnosed. It is usually fixed by peephole surgery. Because the symptoms can be very different, misdiagnosis is common. Common symptoms can include severe pain during menstruation, heavy bleeding, difficulty conceiving, pain during intercourse and fatigue. Endometriosis occurs in approximately 10 percent of women and is the most common female disease we have. Many people live without symptoms. About 40 percent of infertile people have endometriosis. The tissue can grow on fallopian tubes, ovaries, peritoneum, intestines, ureter and bladder. The most common form of treatment is peephole surgery and contraceptives such as birth control pills or IUDs. Source: The Endometriosis Association Self-luminous tissue One of the things the researchers will test is to make the endometriosis tissue “luminous”. When the surgeons have to cut out the diseased tissue, it is not always easy to see what is healthy and what is diseased tissue. – So if we can make some self-luminous markers, we can make the diseased cells light up like a Christmas tree, says the researcher. It can make it much easier to operate on the endometriosis cells. Simply explained, endometriosis is when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere. Researchers hope to make the tissue self-luminous as in the picture. Graphics: Kristine Sandnes (news) / Jenny Westrum-Rein (news) Can test many medicines The research project starts in January and will last for the next four years. A total of 15 million is spent on this. This means that women who are to be operated on for endometriosis in Trondheim and Oslo will soon be asked if they want to participate. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news If they say yes, the tissue that is removed during the operation is sent to Sintef’s lab. There they will cultivate the cells from each individual woman. – Instead of patients or laboratory animals having to be exposed to medicines we don’t know how they work, we can take cells from the patients and test them in thousands of different variants in the lab. It will give the researchers a much better basis for taking some substances on to medical development, says Halene-Hox. For example, the team has talked about testing migraine medicine on the cell samples. Completely different assessments Haslene-Hox says that it is complicated to find good treatments for endometriosis. Because there is such a large difference between the patient groups, completely different assessments of risk must be made than, for example, for cancer. – When you develop a cancer drug, it may be for a 68-year-old woman with ovarian cancer and three months left to live. While for endometriosis, you must give medicine to a 13-year-old with period pains who has her whole life ahead of her, and is about to have a child. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news She says that it will still take many years before they are able to take a possible treatment from the lab to hospital. – But it may well be that we can find differences between the various patients that can already be used to assess the risk and prognosis for patients being treated. A beginning Surgeon Guri Majak has just finished another endometriosis operation at Oslo University Hospital. Guri Majak is a senior physician and head of the National Competence Service for endometriosis and adenomyosis. Photo: Ingvil Øvretveit / news She will also work on the study, and is already thinking about the next step. It may be to try out medicines on the patient’s cell samples. What seems to work well in the lab can then be tested directly on patients. – This is the beginning of something that can only grow bigger. This is a disease that we still don’t understand why someone gets it. And we have no cure. Målretta Elisabeth Raasholm Larby is head of the Endometriosis Association. She says it is extremely important that endometriosis tissue is now researched at gene and cell level. – If you can extract tissue from the patients, study it and know which treatment will be the most targeted, then that is absolutely fantastic. Elisabeth Raasholm Larby says that better treatment will have a lot to say. Photo: Ane Undhjem Løvereide / Endometriosis Association – It’s no secret that endometriosis costs society a lot in terms of lost working capacity. So it could have enormous consequences both for the people affected by the disease, but also on a societal level. Published 23.11.2024, at 22.40
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Norwegian researchers will spend 15 million and four years looking for a cure for endometriosis – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
