The Edinburgh EXPPECT Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Care and Treatment
Dr. Erin Greaves, Prof. Andrew Horne, and Prof. Philippa Saunders (f.l.t.r.)
The research at EXPPECT (click here for more information) is led by Professor Philippa Saunders, Professor Andrew Horne and Dr Erin Greaves at Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh. Their groups work closely together and focus on furthering understanding of the causes of chronic pelvic pain, endometriosis symptoms and the development of novel treatment strategies. Professor Philippa Saunders holds a Personal Chair of Reproductive Steroids and is Director of Postgraduate Research at the University of Edinburgh. Her work with patient groups has identified that women with endometriosis want more effective medical treatments so that they can avoid repeated invasive surgeries and the unwanted side effects associated with current therapies. She believes that novel therapeutics targeting androgen receptors hold significant promise as a medical treatment for the symptoms associated with endometriosis. Her team are working towards understanding the androgen-regulated processes relevant to the establishment, and maintenance of, endometriosis lesions and their interaction with pain pathways.
Professor Andrew Horne holds a Personal Chair in Gynaecology and Reproductive Sciences, and is an Honorary Consultant Gynaecologist at University of Edinburgh. Professor Horne has established the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for Endometriosis, is a medical advisor for Endometriosis UK, is a member of the NICE and ESHRE Clinical Guideline Groups for Endometriosis, and is chair of the ESHRE Special Interest Group for Endometriosis and Endometrial Disorders. He is chief investigator of a UK-wide multicentre trial to determine whether gabapentin, a drug commonly used to treat other chronic pain conditions, could be an effective treatment for chronic pelvic pain specifically. His team have also recently shown that the cells lining the pelvis are different in women with endometriosis, leading to an altered environment in the pelvis. His ongoing work aims to use targeted therapies to re-establish a normal healthy pelvic environment and relieve endometriosis symptoms by repurposing drugs used in cancer.
Dr Erin Greaves is Principal Investigator and MRC Career Development Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She believes that endometriosis-associated pain is due to the growth of new nerve fibres into endometriosis lesions and their activation by molecules involved in inflammation. Immune cells known as macrophages are attracted to lesions and they are thought to play an important role in encouraging blood vessel and nerve fibre growth into the lesion. Her research focuses on how macrophages aid nerve fibre growth and activation in the lesions.
Professor Saunders, Professor Horne and Dr Greaves have also recently embarked on collaborative projects with Oxford University to determine whether the repurposing of CB2 agonists and use of the dietary supplement Omega-3 purified fatty acids are a potential treatment for endometriosis-associated pain. EXPPECT is a registered EPHect centre.
