Whole-genome methylation profiling of menstrual stem cells identifies novel biomarkers for endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis, despite its high prevalence, is underdiagnosed and poorly managed due to lack of clinically validated biomarkers and pathophysiological insight. Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) have been implicated in disease pathogenesis, but their diagnostic potential remains unexplored. We conducted a clinical study (n=42; 19 endometriosis, 23 controls) to assess whether DNA methylation profiles of freshly isolated MenSCs can identify disease-specific biomarkers. Whole-genome methylation sequencing revealed differentially methylated regions (DMRs) enriched in genes linked to hallmarks of endometriosis (e.g., inflammation, tissue remodelling, development). These DMRs robustly distinguished cases from controls, independent of technical and clinical variables. Machine learning models trained and validated on these DMRs achieved high diagnostic performance (specificity 83%, sensitivity 79%). Integration with an independent single-cell RNA sequencing dataset showed that the DMRs may modulate gene expression, further supporting their biological relevance. These findings position MenSC DNA methylation profiling as a promising, non-invasive approach for early endometriosis diagnosis and personalised care.