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Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
According to new research conducted on mice, altered intestinal bacteria have a possible link with the progression of endometriosis in the female body. A link to invest more.
If you open the page of the EndoFrance association, you will be confronted with various strong figures: 10% of women (or menstruating people) are affected by endometriosis. 70% suffer from it in a chronic and disabling way, and yet no treatment is known to date. Indeed, despite years of research, we still know little about the development factors of endometriosis, this propensity of the mucous membrane inside the uterus to attach to the surrounding tissues (with sometimes pain and fertility problems). However, some studies have found that the microbiome, a community of microorganisms living inside the body, is altered in women with endometriosis. A recent research led by the Baylor College of Medicine wished to advance in this direction using an animal model.
Smaller lesions in mice without microbiome
The team experimented with several configurations with or without microbiome. “To investigate the role of the microbiome in endometriosis, we first implemented a new mouse model of the condition in which we eliminated the microbiome using antibiotics”said lead author Dr. Rama Kommagani, leading to several observations:
- Mice thus lacking a gut microbiome had smaller endometriotic lesions than mice with a gut microbiome;
- When mice without gut microbiome received the gut microbiota of mice with endometriosis, the lesions then became as severe as those of mice retaining their microbiome;
- Treatment of endometriotic cells and mice with a metabolite called “quinic acid” significantly improved cell proliferation and growth of endometriotic lesions, respectively.
Stools as a diagnostic tool in endometriosis?
At first glance, these results suggest that altered gut bacteria drive disease progression. In contrast, the uterine microbiome does not appear to affect disease progression. But does this mean that modifying the intestinal microbiome would be a possible answer against endometriosis?
“We are currently studying this possibility,” said said Dr. Kommagani. The results also suggest that studying microbiome metabolites in human stool samples could be used as a diagnostic tool.
“Endometriosis is usually diagnosed by ultrasound, and an invasive procedure is needed to fully characterize the lesion,” said Kommagani. “We are studying whether microbiome metabolites in human stool samples could be a useful diagnostic tool and also whether some of these metabolites could be used as a treatment strategy.”
“Taking care of your microbiota is always a good option”
For Dr. Odile Bagot, gynecologist and member of the Doctissimo expert committee, the role that the microbiota could play is hardly surprising:
“Here, the microbiota does not cause the triggering of endometriosis, therefore its genesis, but it has a promoter effect, that is to say that according to this study, it would cause an increase in lesions depending on the state of the gut microbiota. However, the role of the intestinal microbiota has been demonstrated in all forms of inflammation (joint, digestive, etc.) and endometriosis has an inflammatory component. So it is quite possible”.
As such, that we discover the precise mechanism of endometriosis, and the importance of the microbiota in the severity of the disease, the doctor reminds us:
“From a health point of view, taking care of your gut microbiota is always a good thing”