Guo Wenping, Wang Jing, Wei Hongyi
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, China
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, China.
Reprod Sci. 2016 Nov;23(11):1559-1564. doi: 10.1177/1933719116648219. Epub 2016 May 11.
Uterine leiomyomas (ULMs) are the most common benign tumors in premenopausal women associated with major tissue fibrosis. It has been suggested that inflammatory response is associated with the development of ULM. YKL-40 is a chitinase-like protein present in serum of healthy participants, and its levels are increased in several human inflammatory diseases. However, the association between YKL-40 and ULM has not been reported. The aim of this study was to identify whether serum YKL-40 levels correlate with ULM. Premenopausal women with ULM (n = 61) and leiomyoma-free control women (n = 45) were recruited for this study. Serum YKL-40 levels were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Correlations were assessed by Spearman rank correlation test. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to define the optimal cutoff value for predicting ULM. We found that serum YKL-40 levels in patients with ULM were significantly higher than in healthy controls (P < .001). Positive correlation was also observed between serum YKL-40 levels and leiomyoma weight (r = .92; P < .001). Moreover, ROC curves yielded robust area under the curve value (0.94) accompanied by high sensitivity (82.0%) and specificity (91.1%) in distinguishing patients with ULM from healthy controls. These findings suggest that elevated serum YKL-40 levels are associated with the existence of ULM, and YKL-40 might be a potential adjunct biomarker for diagnosis of ULM.
子宫平滑肌瘤（ULMs）是绝经前女性中最常见的良性肿瘤，与主要的组织纤维化相关。有研究表明，炎症反应与子宫平滑肌瘤的发生发展有关。YKL-40是一种存在于健康受试者血清中的几丁质酶样蛋白，其水平在几种人类炎症性疾病中会升高。然而，YKL-40与子宫平滑肌瘤之间的关联尚未见报道。本研究的目的是确定血清YKL-40水平是否与子宫平滑肌瘤相关。本研究招募了患有子宫平滑肌瘤的绝经前女性（n = 61）和无平滑肌瘤的对照女性（n = 45）。采用酶联免疫吸附测定法分析血清YKL-40水平。通过Spearman等级相关检验评估相关性。采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线确定预测子宫平滑肌瘤的最佳临界值。我们发现，子宫平滑肌瘤患者的血清YKL-40水平显著高于健康对照组（P < .001）。血清YKL-40水平与平滑肌瘤重量之间也观察到正相关（r = .92；P < .001）。此外，ROC曲线在区分子宫平滑肌瘤患者与健康对照组时，曲线下面积值稳健（0.94），伴有高敏感性（82.0%）和特异性（91.1%）。这些发现表明，血清YKL-40水平升高与子宫平滑肌瘤的存在有关，YKL-40可能是子宫平滑肌瘤诊断的潜在辅助生物标志物。
