Levels of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein in women with and without endometriosis.

PROBLEM

To establish an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for determining the levels of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein in the serum of women with and without endometriosis.

METHOD OF STUDY

Serum samples were obtained from 105 normal women, who were randomly selected for a population-based epidemiologic study, and 123 patients with active endometriosis. An ELISA using transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein as antigens was established.

RESULTS

The levels of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein in the serum of patients with endometriosis were approximately 21 times higher than those in the serum of control subjects without endometriosis. Only 2% of control subjects had false positive levels of these antibodies, and 5% of patients with endometriosis had false negative levels of these antibodies (specificity, 98.1 and 98.1, respectively, for anti-transferrin and anti-alpha 2-HS glycoprotein; sensitivity, 95 and 96.7, respectively, for anti-transferrin and anti-alpha 2-HS glycoprotein).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with endometriosis have significantly higher levels of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein than control subjects. Testing women for antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein will provide a specific noninvasive diagnosis of endometriosis.