Menstrual effluent cell profiles have potential as noninvasive biomarkers of female reproductive and gynecological health and disease. We used DNA methylation-based cell type deconvolution (methylation cytometry) to identify cell type profiles in self-collected menstrual effluent. During the second day of their menstrual cycle healthy participants collected menstrual effluent using a vaginal swab, menstrual cup, and pad. Immune cell proportions were highest in menstrual cup samples, and epithelial cells were highest in swab samples. Our work demonstrates the feasibility and utility of menstrual effluent cell profiling in population-level research using remotely collected samples and DNA methylation.

Brock Christensen is an advisor to Guardant Health which had no role in the work

This study was funded by the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities and the Neukom Institute for Computational Science.

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The Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at Dartmouth College gave ethical approval for this work.

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.