While considering a disease test, you may initially think about nasal swabs, urine tests, and probably blood draws, but period blood doesn’t come to one’s mind though nearly 1.8 billion people worldwide menstruate.
The menstrual effluent, or the cells and tissue shed by the thicker endometrial lining of the uterus each menstrual cycle, is significantly more complex than blood from other body areas. It comprises cervical mucus, endometrial tissue, diverse immune cells, blood, nucleic acid, proteins, hormones, and uterus-specific bacteria. In the menstrual cycle, out of 1061 proteins: 385 are only from period blood and are not found in circulating blood or vaginal fluid.
In early 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the biotech research company Qvin‘s Q-Pad and A1C Test, as a new diagnostic menstrual pad to test blood sugar.
How it works:
The Qvin A1c Q-Pad Test Kit measures average blood sugar levels over three months by testing the A1c biomarker, commonly used for diabetes and pre-diabetes monitoring, and helps non-diabetics track blood sugar.1
The Q-Pad is an organic cotton period pad that contains a removable blood collection strip a return sample container, and a prepaid mailing pouch. And, once users collect menstrual blood on days 2-4 of their cycle, are sent to a CLIA-certified lab for testing, with results provided through the Qvin app.
It is non-invasively, using blood that comes every month (menstrual blood). Today, hundreds of biomarkers are found in the blood providing a monitor window of our health, ranging from dietary shortages to cancer symptoms. Therefore, it has diagnostic capabilities to diagnose HPV, endometriosis, and many more.
Further diagnostic application:
Endometriosis:
Endometriosis impacts 10% of women globally, characterized by uterine-like tissue growing outside the uterus and causing significant pain. Current diagnosis methods rely on laparoscopic surgery, with treatments mainly involving surgery. Researchers Christine Metz at the Feinstein Institute work on diagnostic techniques using menstrual blood.2 Their ROSE study identified immune cell variations between endometriosis patients and healthy individuals, potentially aiding in disease identification. They aim to develop PCR-based diagnostic tests and have expanded their study to include teenagers, as symptoms often appear during adolescence. 3
Cervical cancer:
Cervical cancer, typically caused by specific HPV strains, Anna Villarreal, also being a cancer survivor and founder of LifeStory Health, recognizes the diagnostic value of menstrual blood for cancer detection. Her team has developed a PCR-based test to identify cancer biomarkers in menstrual blood, focusing on early-stage ovarian cancer screening. And also investigating menstrual blood’s potential for diagnosing breast, lung, and endometrial cancers.4
References:
1. Naseri S, Brewster RCL, Blumenthal PD. Novel use of menstrual blood for monitoring glycaemic control in patients with diabetes: a proof-of-concept study. BMJ Sex Reprod Health. 2022;48(2):123-127. doi:10.1136/bmjsrh-2021-201211
2. Warren LA, Shih A, Renteira SM, et al. Analysis of menstrual effluent: diagnostic potential for endometriosis. Mol Med Camb Mass. 2018;24(1):1. doi:10.1186/s10020-018-0009-6
3. What Can Menstrual Blood Reveal about Health and Disease? https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/what-can-menstrual-blood-reveal-about-health-and-disease. Accessed August 7, 2024.
4. Menstrual blood holds the key to better diagnostics. Drug Discovery News. https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/menstrual-blood-holds-the-key-to-better-diagnostics-15454. Accessed August 7, 2024.
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