title: Serum biomarker for diagnosis of endometriosis.
abstract: Endometriosis is estimated to affect 10% of women during the reproductive years. The lack of a non-invasive diagnostic test significantly contributes to the long delay between onset of the symptoms and definitive diagnosis of endometriosis. This case-control study was conducted to identify specific endometriosis antigens using 2D gel analysis in women with endometriosis (n = 5) and without endometriosis (n = 5). Differentially expresses spots were analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight/mass spectrometry (nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS) with MASCOT analysis, in order to identify the corresponding proteins. ELISAs were performed on a different cohort of endometriosis (n = 120) and healthy patients (n = 20) in order to confirm the differential expression of the identified proteins. ROC analysis of ELISA results confirmed the statistical significance of the differential expression for one of these proteins: Zn-alpha2-glycoprotein (P = 0.019). We propose the analysis of the expression level of this protein in the serum as a new non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis.
authors.affiliation: Centro Italiano Endometriosi, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro Giulio
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Signorile
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baldi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016622:Silver Staining
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011506:Proteins