title: The presence of CD40, CD40L and ADAM8 among endometriotic patients.
abstract: Clinical and molecular research data are still insufficient to determine the onset, etiology and progression of endometriosis. Recently, a number of studies have been investigating the role of the inflammatory-immune factor. The role of inflammation in tissue infiltration and staging of endometriosis is limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of CD40, CD40L and ADAM8 among endometriotic patients. These three markers of inflammation were measured in the serum of each of 76 women participating in the study. Twenty-nine (29) women, of mean age 36.9, (±9.2 SD) years free of endometriosis served as the control group. Of the endometriotic women 15 had a stage I-II and 32 stage III-IV disease. We undertook the present investigation expecting that an increased expression of CD40, CD40L and ADAM8 would testify to the inflammatory-autoimmune character of endometriosis. No difference in the levels of CD40, ADAM 8, CD40L was detected between the two groups. The stage of endometriosis did not affect CD40, ADAM 8, CD40L serum concentrations. A difficulty in our study is the lack of data with which to compare our results. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the role of these inflammatory markers in endometriosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Panoulis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nieri
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaparos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Augoulea
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Logothetis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Creatsa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fotiou
mesh_terms: D051722:ADAM Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D019013:CD40 Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000097:blood*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D019013:CD40 Antigens; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D023201:CD40 Ligand; D051722:ADAM Proteins; C068490:ADAM8 protein, human