Investigation of diagnostic potentials of nine different biomarkers in endometriosis

To investigate the diagnostic potentials of the serum levels of nine different biomarkers in endometriosis.

In this case-controlled, prospective clinical study, 80 women underwent laparoscopy or laparotomy with a preliminary diagnosis of chronic pelvic pain, severe secondary dysmenorrhea, infertility, pelvic endometriosis or pelvic mass. The 60 women with confirmed pelvic endometriosis constituted the endometriosis group, and the other 20 women without endometriosis constituted the control group. Preoperative blood samples were obtained for serum biomarker measurements. Serum levels of nine different serum biomarkers including α-enolase, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, leptin, interleukin-8, anti-endometrial antibody, phosphoinositide dependent protein kinase 1, CA125, syntaxin-5, and laminin-1 were measured concurrently and compared between the control and endometriosis groups, and among control group and endometriosis subgroups including stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV endometriosis.

The serum levels of α-enolase, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, leptin, interleukin-8 and antiendometrial antibodies showed a statistically significant difference neither between control and endometriosis groups nor among control group and endometriosis subgroups. The serum levels of CA125, syntaxin-5 and laminin-1 showed a statistically significant difference both between the control and endometriosis groups (p<0.01) and among control group and endometriosis subgroups (p<0.01). Serum levels of laminin-1 in stage II and IV endometriosis; syntaxin-5 in stage I and II endometriosis; and CA125 in stage III and IV endometriosis were found to have the different levels compared to control group.

These findings show that the concurrent measurement of CA125, syntaxin-5 and laminin-1 might be a useful non-invasive test in strengthening the diagnosis of endometriosis and in predicting its severity.