EndoERαSE: Erasing Endometriosis, Restoring Lives
1 in 10 women in their reproductive age suffers from endometriosis.
What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a chronic disease where uterine-like
tissue grows outside the uterus often on the bladder, ureters, and intestines,
resulting in inflammation and scar tissue.
Endometriosis can lower the quality of life for those affected due to the symptoms. These include infertility, pain, heavy periods, and depression, all of which can be debilitating for those affected. While the experience with the disease differs from person to person, symptoms can start already during a person’s first menstrual period and last until menopause.
The major problem with endometriosis is that there is no cure.
The only ‘treatment’ currently available is surgery, which does not just have the regular risks associated with surgery but is also not a cure as patients can experience remission of the disease.
The only other options are hormonal therapies and pain killers which only aid in managing the symptoms and have their own well-documented side effects.
EndoERαSE wants to change this!
Our solution is to make a minimally invasive, non-hormonal treatment by targeting the different levels of estrogen receptors (ER) in endometrial-like cells compared to normal endometrial cells.
This will induce apoptosis in the endometrial-like cells while sparing the normal endometrium cells by triggering the incorporated ”safety switch”.
Want to learn more?
Check out our project promotion video!
Illustrations created with BioRender.com and Canva.com
References
- "1 in 10 women in their reproductive age suffers from endometriosis. That makes 190.000.000 women worldwide. The major problem with endometriosis is that there is no cure. Endometriosis can lower the quality of life for those affected due to the symptoms. These include infertility, pain, heavy periods, and depression, all of which can be debilitating for those affected. While the experience with the disease differs from person to person, symptoms can start already during a person’s first menstrual period and last until menopause ": Endometriosis. World Health Organization. 2023.
- "Our solution is to make a minimally invasive, non-hormonal treatment by targeting the different levels of estrogen receptors (ER) in endometrial-like cells compared to normal endometrial cells": Rogers PA, D'Hooghe TM, Fazleabas A, Gargett CE, Giudice LC, Montgomery GW, et al. Priorities for endometriosis research: recommendations from an international consensus workshop. Reprod Sci. 2009;16(4):335-46.
