Endometriosis is a severe disease affecting 10% of reproductive age women, characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside of uterus. Due to the associated pain, inertility and a small, but increased risk for developing ovarian cancer, its socioeconomic impacts have a profound effect on women’s mental and physical health. Endometriosis is characterized by a diagnostic delay of a decade, as its diagnosis is surgery-based, and all attempts to identify the non-invasive biomarkers have not been progressed beyond the discovery. Moreover, current treatments include only surgery or hormonal medications with significant side effects. In view of the above, the endometriosis care is challenging, and is hampered by the considerable heterogeneity of clinical manifestations. The TRENDO consortium has addressed the main problems in endometriosis diagnosis and therapy in a multidisciplinary and trans-sectoral effort, bringing together the clinical and translational science experts, and industry partners from six European and South American countries. We developed non-invasive biomarkers and testing, shortening diagnostic delay, and reducing unequal access to expensive healthcare. Several biomarkers were identified using proteomics, meatbolomics, transriptomics, genetics and endocrine analytics, which are integrated bioinformatically. These biomarkers were tested for the suitability as drug targets, to monitor treatment response, and to predict personalized clinical recommendations in several preclincal models. Among these, organoid models of endometriosis mimicking pain generation in the disease were developed in addition to advanced co-culture models suitable for measureing endometrial receptivity to konitor fertility problems in endometriosis patients in the laboratory. Our combined expertise has provided novel tools addressing the most urgent priorities in endometriosis and to successfully translate our findings into novel therapeutic approaches. Among these, natural therapies of endometriosis have been successfully tested in preclinical models within TRENDO. Moreover, the development of tissue-targeting peptides provided the groundwork for a new diagnostic and potentially theranostic tool. This challenging scientific task provided an ideal career-enhancing setting for young scientists, providing them with transdisciplinary and trans-domain training, and with essential transferable skills. The training program provided a new generation of researchers with a strong competitive advantage on the job market and increase European academic and industry competence in one of the under-investigated clinical domains.
