Endometriosis and ovarian cancer are linked genetically: Research

Queensland: A new study conducted by University of Queensland researchers has discovered a relationship between endometriosis and ovarian cancer subtypes, allowing researchers to identify possible pharmacological targets for therapy and advancing knowledge of both illnesses.
The research was published in the ‘Cell Reports Medicine’ publication.

Endometriosis patients have a slightly higher chance of getting epithelial ovarian cancer, according to previous research.

Dr. Sally Mortlock and Professor Grant Montgomery of the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience conducted a major genomic investigation to find a genetic basis for this risk and better understand the molecular overlap between these reproductive illnesses.

Dr. Mortlock stated, “More understanding regarding how they develop, their associated risk factors, and the routes shared between endometriosis and different forms of ovarian cancer has been needed.”

Endometriosis is a chronic painful condition that affects 1 in 9 women of reproductive age, causing discomfort and infertility by causing tissue comparable to the uterine lining to develop in other regions of the body.

“Our research shows that individuals carrying certain genetic markers that predispose them to have endometriosis also have a higher risk of certain epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes, namely clear cell and endometriosis ovarian cancer,” said Dr Mortlock.

She further stated that, despite the fact that the diseases are genetically connected, endometriosis patients do not have a significantly elevated risk of ovarian cancer.

“Overall, studies have estimated that 1 in 76 women are at risk of developing ovarian cancer in their lifetime and having endometriosis increases this slightly to 1 in 55, so the overall risk is still very low,” she said.
In the future, the researchers discovered genes that might be used as therapeutic targets to treat endometriosis and epithelial ovarian cancer.

“We explored specific areas of DNA that increase the risk of both diseases and identified genes in the ovary and uterus tissue that could be targeted for therapy and may be valuable to understand the link between the disorders and to disrupt biological pathways initiating cancer,” Dr Mortlock added.

To find an overlap in risk factors between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, the researchers combined large datasets comparing the genomes of 15,000 people with endometriosis and 25,000 people with ovarian cancer.