title: Effect of surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry on identifing biomarkers of endometriosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease. This study aimed to screen proteins that were expressed differently in patients with endometriosis versus normal controls using proteomic techniques, surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Protein chip SELDI-TOF-MS combines the advantages of microarray and mass spectrometry, and can screen latent markers in sera of patients with endometriosis. Serum samples from patients and normal volunteers were analyzed by SELDI-TOF-MS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After comparing the serum protein spectra of 36 patients with 24 normal controls, 24 differently expressed potential biomarkers (P < 0.01) were identified. Using Biomarker Pattern software, we established a tree model of the 60 serum protein spectra. When using the three biomarkers to classify the samples, the sensitivity for diagnosing endometriosis was 91.7%, specificity was 95.8%, and coincidence rate was 93.3%. Then we used serum samples from 12 patients and 8 normal controls to validate the tree model and report the sensitivity for diagnosing endometriosis was 91.7%, specificity was 75%, and coincidence rate was 85%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SELDI-TOF-MS may be a useful tool in high-risk population screening for endometriosis. The identification and application of the biomarkers need to further study.
authors.affiliation: Gynecological Oncology Center, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Xiao-hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Zhong-xing
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-yi
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers