Endometriosis biomarkers: Will co-development in academia-industry partnerships result in new and robust noninvasive diagnostic tests?

Endometriosis biomarkers: Will co-development in academia-industry partnerships result in new and robust noninvasive diagnostic tests? Biol Reprod. 2019 Feb 01;: Authors: D'Hooghe TM, Fassbender A, Dorien FO, Vanhie A Abstract Endometriosis is an important gynecological disease, affecting 10% of reproductive age women, and associated with pain, infertility, reduced quality of life and high health economic cost. Except for ultrasound detection of ovarian endometriotic cysts, the gold standard for diagnosis is laparoscopy, leading to diagnostic delays of 5-10 years. Accurate noninvasive biomarkers are needed, especially for symptomatic women with a normal gynecological ultrasound, to triage them towards medical or surgical treatment and to monitor their treatment outcome. Such biomarkers are not available today, largely because the research focus has been on discovery, not on reproducibility and validation. Academia/industry partnerships can move this field forward by validation of promising markers, consensus on endometriosis phenotypes/controls and desirable accuracy (sensitivity/specificity). Such partnerships should increase the quality and reproducibility of target discovery work and foster global consensus on the use of relevant preclinical/animal models, if they are managed with complete (financial) transparency and with the aim to translate innovation into products benefiting patients. It is essential that mutual objectives are...
Source: Biology of Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Tags: Biol Reprod Source Type: research