About This Project

Endometriosis causes chronic pain and infertility, but current treatments are limited and often involve surgery. We are developing specialized immune cells that can find and destroy the harmful cells driving the disease. These engineered cells target a specific marker found on the abnormal tissue, offering a more precise and less invasive way to treat endometriosis.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Endometriosis happens when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in places it shouldn’t, causing pain, inflammation, and infertility. Current treatments, including hormone therapy and surgery, often fail to provide lasting relief and do not eliminate the root cause of the disease,

The abnormal immune and fibrotic cells within endometriotic lesions express high levels of unique surface protein, fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is not found on normal uterine cells . We are developing an immune cell therapy that targets this protein to selectively find and destroy the harmful cells driving endometriosis. This could lead to a precise, non-surgical treatment that directly addresses disease progression.

What is the significance of this project?

This project is significant because it addresses a major unmet need in endometriosis treatment. Current therapies, including hormone suppression and surgery, often fall short: symptoms return in up to 50% of patients within five years, and many experience serious side effects or cannot tolerate hormone-based drugs. Surgery is invasive, costly, and frequently requires repeat procedures. Our cell therapy offers a non-hormonal, non-surgical alternative that directly targets disease-driving cells in lesions. If successful, it could provide proof of concept data to develop cell therapies for lasting relief, reduce recurrence, and pave the way for innovative cell-based therapies in women’s health.

What are the goals of the project?

We will test whether engineered immune cells can kill T-HESCs (telomerase-immortalized human endometrial stromal cells), which model endometriotic tissue. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors will be modified using a lentiviral vector to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP), a surface marker found on fibrotic cells in endometriosis. GFP-labeled T-HESCs will be used as target cells. Engineered immune cells will be mixed with the T-HESCs in a lab dish (co-culture), and their ability to kill the target cells (cytotoxicity) will be observed using fluorescence microscopy. To measure cell killing, we will count how many GFP-positive cells remain after the mix. This proof-of-concept study will assess whether FAP-directed CAR immune cells can specifically target and kill endometriotic cells.