This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers have engineered a drug treatment that shows rapid effectiveness against endometriosis in early testing, laying the foundation for a potential therapy for an incurable, chronic disease that affects 1 in 10 women. The targeted nanotherapy, developed by a team of scientists at Washington State University, reduced endometriosis symptoms and disease progression after a single dose in a mouse model.
The treatment targets a cell associated with endometriosis with a commonly available drug delivered by a tiny nanoparticle. The results were published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, and the researchers hope to eventually test the drug for human use. "We found the disease-specific immune cell, and then we had a drug, but we couldn't target the cell with the drug alone," said Kanako Hayashi, a professor in WSU's School of Molecular Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and a corresponding author of the new publication.
"So we used this nanocarrier that delivers the drug specifically to the disease site." Endometriosis is a debilitating disease affecting roughly 190 million women worldwide, in which lesions of tissue similar to that inside the uterus grow outside the uterus. Symptoms can include chronic pain, severe cramps, pain during sex and infertility. Many women experience years of suffering before and after the disease is diagnosed, and it remains incurable.
Hormonal therapies are used to manage symptoms, but they come with a host of drawbacks, including effects on a patient's fertility and bone density. Young women who take those treatments often experience menopause-like effects, such as hot flashes and infertility. Surgeries can remove lesions, but their effectiveness may be short-term.
Recent endometriosis research has focused on immune system dysfunction, particularly problems with white blood cells known as macrophages that are key to disease prevention. In a previous study, the WSU researchers identified a unique population of macrophages associated with endometriosis. Those cells stood out as potential targets for drug delivery with a nanocarrier, a specialized molecule that delivers the drug to the disease site without affecting surrounding cells and tissue, like a key fitting into a lock.
Next, they designed that key using niclosamide, a drug currently approved to treat intestinal tapeworms. The drug is being studied for a range of other potential uses, including cancer treatment, and it has been shown in Hayashi's past research to reduce lesions in endometriosis. But the medication comes with significant drawbacks, including its low solubility—which means patients have to take large amounts for it to work, limiting how long they can safely take the drug.
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