2023-06-15 12:32:35
A new saliva test developed by a start-up from Lyon can detect if a patient is suffering from endometriosis. If this technology is authorized on a large scale, it might revolutionize the identification of this still poorly understood disease.
Soon an easier detection of endometriosis thanks to saliva tests? A study published in the New England Journal of Medecine has just validated a test of this type developed by a Lyon start-up, paving the way for trials on a larger scale. A potential marketing that might revolutionize the detection of this still poorly understood disease.
For the test, a saliva sample is placed in a tube, which is then sent for analysis. Once in the laboratory, the micro-RNAs present in the sample are 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 a lot of expressions and a lot of different micro-ARn on many individuals, she is able to go and see signatures that we might not go to see”, explains Yannick Marie, biological engineering engineer at the start-up Ziwig, which developed this test, and at the Brain and Spine Institute.
With this test, endometriosis might be diagnosed in a few days, even in a few hours, while the women concerned wait on average between five and ten years before the first symptoms.
“Our primary concern is that future generations do not suffer what we have suffered, both in terms of medical wandering, of aggravation of the disease over several years since it is a time when the pain is chronicizes, where the quality of life deteriorates”, says Juliette Ryan, patient with endometriosis and member of Endomind, an association which carries out actions to fight the disease.
“We believe in it a lot”
Although the test is not yet marketed in France, a published study conducted on 200 patients validates the performance and reproducibility of the device.
“It’s promising, we believe in it a lot”, judge for his part Érick Petit, radiologist and specialist in endometriosis.
“I think it’s an interesting alternative that will open up many research perspectives. Here, we worked on well-confirmed cases of endometriosis already, but in the long term, the goal is to be able to properly identify any patient, whatever its type”, he further develops.
Endometriosis is a complex disease that medicine and research are still struggling to understand. One in ten women is affected, with mild to severe forms.
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