Research in mice suggests headache medications may reduce pain, other symptoms of the gynecologic disorder
The study, conducted in mice and led by scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, uncovered molecular details of how the nervous system and the immune system communicate in endometriosis.
Specifically, the researchers identified a small molecule called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) that plays an important role in this crosstalk.
The CGRP pathway is a target of several existing migraine medications, and when the team administered these drugs to lab mice, they seemed to reduce endometriosis pain and lesion size.
The researchers are now exploring partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, with the goal of launching a clinical trial to test the migraine drugs in patients with endometriosis.