A team of Sydney researchers has become the first in the world to successfully grow tissue from all known types of endometriosis, paving the way for new research into effective treatments and more targeted diagnoses for the debilitating condition.
The disease, which occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the organ, affects one in nine women, but symptoms can vary dramatically between patients.
Dr Dongli Liu examines tissue grown from live endometriosis cells at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, Sydney. Credit: Janie Barrett
Researchers at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women will now be able to test drugs and match patients’ symptoms with specific proteins, after successfully growing 30 different lab-grown tissues taken during surgery.
The hospital’s professor of obstetrics and gynaecology Jason Abbott said collecting the cells in one place for the first time would allow researchers to accurately diagnose patients, potentially limiting the need for invasive and painful surgeries.