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 gl ycoprotein in the serum of women with and without endometriosis. METHO D OF STUDY: Serum samples were obtained from 105 normal women, who wer e randomly selected for a population-based epidemiologic study, and 12 3 patients with active endometriosis. An ELISA using transferrin and a lpha 2-HS glycoprotein as antigens was established. RESULTS: The level s of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein in the seru m of patients with endometriosis were approximately 21 times higher th an 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 the se antibodies (specificity, 98.1 and 98.1, respectively, for anti-tran sferrin and anti-alpha 2-HS glycoprotein; sensitivity, 95 and 96.7, re spectively, for anti-transferrin and anti-alpha 2-HS glycoprotein). CO NCLUSIONS: Patients with endometriosis have significantly higher level s of antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein than contro l subjects. Testing women for antibodies to transferrin and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein will provide a specific noninvasive diagnosis of endomet riosis.