Levels of Antibodies to Transferrin and Alpha 2‐HS Glycoprotein in Women With and Without Endometriosis

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Abstract
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.

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