# Integrative Analysis of Genomic, Epigenomic and Phenotypic Data for Disease Stratification of Endometriosis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $552,409

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Endometriosis is a common disease causing pelvic pain and infertility. It affects the quality of life of millions of
women and has a major impact on the U.S. health economy. Most disease derives from retrograde menstrual
seeding of endometrial tissue and cells from the lining of the uterus (eutopic endometrium) onto pelvic
structures that develop as lesions and elicit an inflammatory response and scarring. It is surgically diagnosed,
is heterogeneous in appearance and staging and is characterized by unpredictable responses to surgical and
medical therapies. Abnormalities within the uterus predisposing to establishing the disease are either inherent
(genetic) or acquired (environmental/lifestyle), and if the latter, raise the possibility of life-style modification to
alter disease risk and progression. The NIH Human Genome Project and NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Project
are generating genomic and epigenomic data, and with powerful bioinformatics and biostatistical tools, are
providing novel insights into multiple diseases. However, no studies have utilized these combined
technologies at the scale required to address fundamental questions related to endometriosis - a scientific gap
addressed herein. A growing number of human diseases are associated with acquired defects in DNA
methylation, and epigenetic changes provide a biological link between individual exposures and phenotype.
Our proposal addresses identifying endometriosis-specific, eutopic endometrial DNA methylation signals, their
associations with surgical disease phenotypes and specific patient characteristics, genetic and non-genetic
contributions to these DNA methylation signals and potentially identifying modifiable disease risk factors. Our
team involves a collaboration among global leading genomic and epidemiological research centers focused on
endometriosis (UCSF, Harvard, Oxford, QIMR, and University of Melbourne (the “Consortium”)) to address the
hypotheses that 1) environmental and genetic influences contribute to endometriosis and leave long-term
signatures in the DNA methylome in the eutopic endometrium that contribute to disease pathogenesis and
pathophysiology; and 2) these can serve to stratify disease risk and inform new avenues for drug target
discoveries and diagnostic development. We propose to perform genome-wide DNA methylation analyses and
genotyping of nearly 1000 well annotated, existing eutopic endometrium samples (and ongoing accrual for a
400 sample replication study), collected by standard operating procedures and extensive phenotyping,
established by our World Endometriosis Research Foundation Endometriosis Phenome and Biobanking
Harmonization Project (WERF-EPHect).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9922328
- **Project number:** 5R01HD089511-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** LINDA C GIUDICE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $552,409
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-26 → 2022-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9922328

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9922328, Integrative Analysis of Genomic, Epigenomic and Phenotypic Data for Disease Stratification of Endometriosis (5R01HD089511-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9922328. Licensed CC0.

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