From Nature:

Pain-sensing nerves and immune cells work together to wreak havoc in endometriosis, a painful condition that affects an estimated 190 million women and girls of reproductive age. But a study in mice suggests a way to harness that interaction to treat the disorder1.

The research, which was published on 6 November in Science Translational Medicine, reveals a key molecular pathway that not only promotes the sensation of pain caused by endometriosis, but also exacerbates the disease. Drugs that inhibit this pathway are already used for the treatment of migraines — the study’s findings suggest that these therapies might be useful to treat endometriosis as well.

“This is a new way of looking at how we could change pain pathways in endometriosis,” says Louise Hull, a researcher who studies endometriosis and treats people with the condition at the University of Adelaide in Australia.