Researchers from Oregon State University have created a nanotechnology-based treatment to alleviate pain and fertility problems associated with endometriosis. The treatment uses photoresponsive nanoparticles loaded with dye to find and remove lesions associated with the disorder.
Endometriosis occurs when endometrium-like tissue forms lesions outside of the uterine cavity, usually involving the ovaries. On rare occasions, endometrial tissue may spread beyond the pelvic organs. 10 percent of child-bearing age women and 30 to 50 percent of women with pelvic pain and infertility issues have endometriosis. Currently, there is no cure for this disease. Doctors can surgically remove legions and improve fertility, but lesions come back half of the time and over a fourth of surgery patients need three or more operations to remove all of the diseased tissue.
The new treatment method uses tiny polymeric materials packed with a dye that can generate a fluorescence signal and cell-killing head under near-infrared light. The materials are less than 100 nanometers in size. The researchers say that this method is both an imaging tool and a lesion removal technique.
The first step of the technique is to inject dye-loaded particles into the body and the fluorescence show where the legions are and kill them with heat. When near-infrared heat is applied, the particles heat up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, killing the cells. The nanoparticles used can predominately accumulate in the endometriotic legions without having a toxic effect on the body.
The team used clinically relevant animal models of endometriosis to show that the nanoparticles can efficiently accumulate in endometrial tissue 24 hours after administration. The heat produced under near-infrared laser light is harmless to tissue without the nanoparticles. The generated head hills endometrial tissue within a day or two.
Further studies are needed to validate the treatment in animals before it can move on to clinical human trials.
A paper on this research was published in the journal Small.
