Endometriosis Research Barriers

The mouse models used in much of the Endometriosis research are incredibly flawed. For example, here are two methods that have been done to study Endometriosis in mice. You’ll notice that this isn’t real Endometriosis – this is uterine tissue just being transplanted. Endometriosis is NOT misplaced uterine tissue. Swipe to see two methods that have been used for Endometriosisis modeling in mice.

If we just jumped to the Results about the effectiveness of hormonal suppresion meds, we would read, “Endometriotic lesions developed in all mice and the total number of lesions per mouse were similar in MPA, letrozole, and leuprolide groups, at the time of abdominal inspection. To evaluate the visible lesions, all were excised and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. In each lesion, we identified the typical histological appearance of endometriotic lesions including cyst-like dilated endometrial glands (Figure 1). As expected, all treatments result in a decreased lesion size.”

But- this data isn’t even representative of what happens with Endometriosis. Endometriosis is inherently different from just misplaced uterine tissue. It does not respond to hormonal suppression the same way uterine tissue does (see previous post for differences). So sure, if you surgically remove uterine tissue and stitch it elsewhere in the body, then give hormonal suppression meds that are meant to cause biochemical changes to the Endometrium, then that is what you will see in your make-shift, wannabe Endometriosis.

The first article alone has been cited 225 times, 6 times just this year. These are the publications many are using to determine the cause and how to treat our disease. This is trash “research.” We deserve better, and we can do better by not donating to non-profits that support this type of research. Hugh Taylor is by far the worst offender of this perpetuation – you may have seen him recently featured by the Endometriosis Foundation of America’s patient day conference. They have also previously granted him money for more of his “research.”

Our money needs to go to non-profits and individuals fighting to make surgical excision of Endometriosis more affordable and accessible.