Easier detection of endometriosis soon thanks to saliva tests? A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has just validated such a test developed by a Lyon start-up, paving the way for larger-scale trials. Potential marketing that could revolutionize the detection of this still little-known disease.
For the test, a saliva sample is placed in a tube, which is then sent for analysis. Once in the laboratory, the micro-RNA present in the sample is extracted and prepared to be sequenced in large machines. The data is then analyzed using artificial intelligence.
Diagnosis in a few days
“The advantage of artificial intelligence is that through its calculation methodologies and its learning, it will go much faster than humans. So by having many expressions and many different micro-RNAs in many people, she can go and see signatures that we couldn’t go and see”, explains Yannick Marie, a biological engineering engineer from the start-up Ziwig, which developed this test, and from the Brain and Spine Institute.
With this test, endometriosis could be diagnosed in a few days, even a few hours, while affected women wait on average between five and ten years before the first symptoms appear.
“Our first concern is that future generations do not suffer what we have suffered, both in medical wandering, and in the worsening of the disease over several years, since it is a time when pain becomes chronic, where the quality of life deteriorates”, says Juliette Ryan, a patient with endometriosis and a member of Endomind, an association that carries out actions to combat the disease.
“We really believe in it”
Although the test is not yet commercialized in France, a published study conducted on 200 patients validates the performance and reproducibility of the device.
“It’s promising, we really believe in it,” judges Érick Petit, a radiologist and specialist in endometriosis.
“I think it is an interesting alternative that will open up many research perspectives. Here we already work on well-confirmed cases of endometriosis, but in the long term, the goal is to be able to adequately identify any patient, whatever their type,” he further develops.
Endometriosis is a complex disease that medicine and research are still struggling to understand. It affects one in ten women, with mild to severe forms.
Source: BFM TV
