Australian medical technology firm Proteomics International became one step closer to developing the world’s first endometriosis blood test.
Its recent tests showed excellent results in distinguishing between healthy people and those in the early stages of the disease.
More importantly, the PromarkerEndo test can diagnose all endometriosis phases, paving the way for a non-invasive detection method.
Testing the endometriosis blood test
Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing pain and/or infertility.
Symptoms associated with endometriosis vary – including a combination of:
♀️ painful periods
♀️ chronic pelvic pain
♀️ pain during and/or after… pic.twitter.com/QoWj9EjvTc— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 26, 2024
Dr. Richard Lipscombe, Managing Director at Proteomics International, told News-Medical:
“We identified 10 protein biomarkers, or ‘fingerprints’ in the blood, that can be found using our test, in women and girls with endometriosis.”
The medtech firm collaborated with the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women’s Hospital to test this endometriosis blood test.
Proteomics compared bloodwork data from 749 participants, who were people with endometriosis and those with similar conditions.
As a result, PromarkerEndo proved to be 99.7 percent accurate at distinguishing severe cases from people without the disease.
Moreover, it was 85 percent accurate in detecting those in the early stages of endometriosis.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says endometriosis is a disease “in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.”
It can cause severe pelvic pain, making it harder to get pregnant. At the time of writing, there are no ways to prevent or cure this disease.
Fortunately, Dr. Lipscombe says PromarkerEndo could “significantly reduce the cost and the amount of time typically spent on trying to solve the cause of symptoms.”
The endometriosis blood test is also “more cost-effective for patients and the health system than the current use of ultrasounds, invasive laparoscopies, MRIs, and biopsies” for diagnosis.
Proteomics International plans to launch the endometriosis blood test in the second quarter of 2025.
Endometriosis in the Philippines
Foods that may help endometriosis:#StopCOVIDDeaths #COVID19 #endometriosis pic.twitter.com/Z7nYE5Isrl
— University of the Philippines (@upsystem) January 20, 2023
The PubMed study “Endometriosis as a highly relevant yet neglected gynecologic condition in Asian women” provides data on endometriosis in the Philippines.
It cited annual census data from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Philippine General Hospital.
It said that endometriosis makes up 15 percent to 20 percent of consultations and 7.9 percent of surgeries for benign gynecologic diseases annually.
Moreover, Filipinos are among the Asian ethnicities that are more likely to have endometriosis than Caucasians.