title: The Serum Levels of the Soluble Factors sCD40L and CXCL1 Are Not Indicative of Endometriosis.
abstract: Endometriosis is a benign but troublesome gynecological condition, characterized by endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity. Lately, the discovery and validation of noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers for endometriosis is one of the main priorities in the field. As the disease elicits a chronic inflammatory reaction, we focused our interest on two factors well known to be involved in inflammation and neoplastic processes, namely, soluble CD40 Ligand and CXCL1, and asked whether differences in the serum levels of sCD40L and CXCL1 in endometriosis patients versus controls can serve as noninvasive disease markers. A total of n = 60 women were included in the study, 31 endometriosis patients and 29 controls, and the serum levels of sCD40L and CXCL1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Overall, there were no statistically significant differences in the levels of expression of both sCD40L and CXCL1 between patients and controls. This study adds useful clinical data showing that the serum levels of the soluble factors sCD40L and CXCL1 are not associated with endometriosis and are not suitable as biomarkers for disease diagnosis. However, we found a trend toward lower levels of sCD40L in the deep infiltrating endometriosis subgroup making it a potentially interesting target worth further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pateisky
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pils
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuessel
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ladislaus
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walch
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Obwegeser
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wenzl
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Iveta
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yotova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054360:Chemokine CXCL1 / Q000097:blood*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: C475829:CXCL1 protein, human; D054360:Chemokine CXCL1; D023201:CD40 Ligand