{"id":22333,"date":"2025-03-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/?p=22333"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:34:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T16:34:39","slug":"cellules-souches-du-sang-menstruel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/fr\/menstrual-blood-stem-cells\/","title":{"rendered":"Les cellules souches d\u00e9riv\u00e9es du sang menstruel pourraient-elles changer la donne pour les femmes atteintes d'endom\u00e9triose ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite affecting roughly half of the reproductive-age population, menstruation is a topic that comes with a lot of stigma<\/a>. Talking about periods<\/a> can feel embarrassing or uncomfortable for many people, and periods admittedly come with a level of mess and discomfort that can make them a little hard to celebrate. But new, ongoing research investigating the unique properties of stem cells found in menstrual blood might just give everyone <\/em>cause to celebrate periods. That\u2019s right. Month after month, your body is churning out stem cells that may very well represent the future of medicine, especially for women with endometriosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are stem cells?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of the cells in your body are what we call differentiated cells<\/em>, like how your skin is made up of skin cells. Stem cells, on the other hand, are undifferentiated<\/em> and able to replicate (multiply) faster and more times than normal cells. Once upon a time, when you were a microscopic blastocyst (just before becoming an embryo)\u2014with cells numbering in the dozens rather than the trillions you would eventually form\u2014all<\/em> of your cells were pluripotent stem cells<\/em>. At that point, they had the potential to become all the cells needed in the human body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an adult, you still have stem cells, but these cells are only multipotent<\/em> because they can only turn into certain types of cells. The most studied and well-known adult stem cells are bone marrow stem cells, and these stem cells can produce different types of blood cells. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A more recent development in stem cell research is induced pluripotent stem cells<\/a>, in which multipotent stem cells are reprogrammed to mimic embryonic stem cells (but without the ethical issues<\/a>). This can allow scientists to produce types of cells they ordinarily wouldn\u2019t be able to with adult stem cells. However, according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>, this technology is still inefficient, and the scientists can\u2019t always produce the exact type of cell they want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs)?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Adult stem cells work to replace cells as needed within whatever tissue they reside. However, there is one special type of tissue in the body that doesn\u2019t just need to be maintained over time. Instead, month after month, it must become thicker, stimulate new blood vessel growth, and its cells must undergo a morphological transformation<\/a>. Did you guess? It\u2019s the endometrium<\/a>, the lining of the uterus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 2022 article<\/a> from the journal Biomedicines<\/em>, which outlined the remarkable characteristics of menstrual blood-derived stem cells (\u201cMenSCs\u201d), the authors note that the replacing power of the endometrium comes from the unique stem cells that create it [1]. Namely, MenSCs can replicate twice as fast<\/em> as bone marrow stem cells, and different kinds of stem cells can be found in the endometrium, meaning MenSCs have the potential to differentiate into many different types of cells. What kinds of cells, you might wonder? Remarkably, these potential differentiations include cells for fat, bone, heart, nerve, respiratory, ovary, liver, pancreatic tissue, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MenSCs also interact with different immune cells, can help moderate the immune system, and seem to play a role in reducing inflammation [1]. Much of this incredible potential has yet to be explored in further studies, but one of the best parts of using stem cells from menstrual blood is that it\u2019s ridiculously<\/em> easy to get. I mentioned that bone marrow stem cells are currently the best-studied adult stem cell, but bone marrow has to be collected in a painful procedure, usually from the inside of the hip. Menstrual blood-derived stem cells, on the other hand, are regularly dumped in the trash or flushed away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big potential for diagnosing and treating endometriosis with MenSCs<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although it is a common disorder, women with endometriosis<\/a> have a notoriously difficult time receiving an accurate diagnosis. Pelvic exams and ultrasounds may not detect endometriosis lesions. And while painful periods are a common experience when it comes to endometriosis, other symptoms<\/a> like GI problems, nerve pain, fatigue, pelvic pain, and spotting may be overlooked or mistaken for other diseases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that endometriosis is characterized by endometrial-like tissue invading tissue within (and, in some cases outside of) the pelvis. But it’s still unclear why this happens, and why endometriosis lesions act differently<\/a> than healthy endometrial cells, and why they impact other parts of the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MenSCs in women with endometriosis vs. MenSCs in women without endo<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

However, the aforementioned article on menstrual blood stem cells also describes how MenSCs from women with endometriosis are different<\/em> from MenSCs from women without endometriosis. In women with endometriosis, these stem cells have a different shape, grow differently when incubated, and have different surface markers, all of which could be used to diagnose endometriosis early. Someday, instead of having to undergo pelvic surgery, diagnosis could be as simple as presenting your doctor with a full menstrual cup<\/a> and having your period blood sent to be examined by a pathologist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers also found that the endometrial stem cells in women with endometriosis could replicate more frequently, were more invasive, survived longer, and expressed genes related to inflammation and recruitment of more blood vessels to sustain the rogue tissue. These characteristics are remarkably similar to those of cancer cells and help explain why endometrial lesions are so different from normal endometrial tissue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers also found that the endometrial stem cells in women with endometriosis could replicate more frequently, were more invasive, survived longer, and expressed genes related to inflammation and recruitment of more blood vessels to sustain the rogue tissue. These characteristics are remarkably similar to those of cancer cells and help explain why endometrial lesions are so different from normal endometrial tissue.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stem cells as a treatment for endometriosis?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Other research on stem cells has furthered our understanding of the role they play in endometriosis. For example, a 2014 study with mice<\/a> demonstrated that endometriosis lesions could be treated with medicine that inhibited the mechanism by which the lesions recruit more stem cells [2]. Furthermore, a 2023 animal study<\/a> involving adipose (fat cell)-derived stem cells demonstrated that treating mice with healthy stem cells inhibited endometriosis lesions and improved pregnancy outcomes [3]. While more research is needed, there is hope that one day, normal MenSCs could be used to compete with the abnormal MenSCs that sustain endometrial lesions. This would represent a targeted, non-surgical, therapy for endometriosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides endometriosis, what else might MenSCs help treat? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The cells in your body derive from three original germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. The ectoderm gives rise to skin and nerve cells, the endoderm mainly creates the digestive system, and the mesoderm yields everything else. Adult stem cells can differentiate into other cells in their same germ layer, and stem cells from all three<\/em> germ layers have been identified in the endometrium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that there is a huge potential for MenSCs to treat disorders, restore normal function, or heal damaged tissue in many different organ systems. Although there is still a need for human studies, animal models have shown that MenSCs can help with various issues, as outlined by Chen, et. al<\/a> including [4]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n