In a new study researchers have discovered two hereditary variations which raise the risk of women developing endometriosis. Endometriosis is an ordinary gynecological ailment that affects around six to ten percent of all women in their reproductive ages. The normal sings may include chronic pain in pelvic region, painful periods and severe fertility problems in some women.
The chronic condition happens when cells which are present in the lining of the womb are also found in another place in the body. During monthly cycle of woman, hormone arouses the endometriosis that causes it to grow, then break down and bleed. It escorts to swelling, pain and the formation of scar tissue.
The only method to diagnose endometriosis is through a process known as laparoscopy which is done under general anesthetic. Currently treatments are restricted to surgery and hormonal drugs which can have side effects. In a study the genomes of more than five thousand women suffering the disease from US, UK and Australia were compared with ten thousand healthy participants.
The research teams from Harvard Medical School, Boston, University of Oxford and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia were involved in the study. Their findings give clues regarding the occurrence of endometriosis. They discovered chromosome 1 and chromosome 7 being decisive to a women’s risk of developing the condition.
Chromosome 7 is believed to be occupied in controlling genes which expand the womb and its lining, the study states, while chromosome 1 is close to a gene that is significant for hormone metabolism and the growth of the female reproductive tract.
Their study is a burst through as it offers the first powerful evidence that variations in DNA make some women more prone to grow endometriosis. They need to understand the effect of these variations on cells and molecules in the body, stated Dr Krina Zondervan, lead author of the study from the University of Oxford.
They have great self-assurance that the results of this study will help towards developing less invasive methods of diagnosis and more effective treatments for endometriosis, explained Dr Stephen Kennedy, senior researcher of the study and head of the Nuffield department of obstetrics and gynecology at Oxford.