Elevated glycodelin-A concentrations in serum and peritoneal fluid of women with ovarian endometriosis

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate serum and peritoneal fluid (PF) glycodelin-A concentrations in women with ovarian endometriosis. Ninety-nine matched pairs of serum and PF samples were included in our study. The case group comprised 57 women with ovarian endometriosis and the control group 42 healthy women undergoing sterilization or patients with benign ovarian cysts. Glycodelin-A concentrations were measured using ELISA. Endometriosis patients had significantly higher serum and PF glycodelin-A concentrations compared to controls, and this increase was observed in both proliferative and secretory cycle phases. Glycodelin-A concentrations were more than 10-fold higher in PF than in serum and correlated with each other. Intensity and frequency of menstrual pain positively correlated with glycodelin-A concentrations. Sensitivity and specificity of glycodelin-A as a biomarker for ovarian endometriosis were 82.1% and 78.4% in serum, and 79.7% and 77.5% in PF, respectively. These results indicate that Glycodelin-A has a potential role as a biomarker to be used in combination with other, independent marker molecules.

• ELISA
• glycodelin-A
• ovarian endometriosis
• peritoneal fluid
• serum

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to our study participants, who donated their samples and time. We thank the personnel from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Clinical Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and especially Dr Martina Ribič-Pucelj and Mrs Marika Andonova. We thank Dr Neli Hevir and Nataša Beranič from the Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, for processing of the samples, Anne Vaucher at the University of Berne for technical assistance and Dr Chris Berrie for editing the manuscript.