Effect of surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry on identifing biomarkers of endometriosis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease. This study aimed to screen proteins that were expressed differently in patients with endometriosis versus normal controls using proteomic techniques, surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Protein chip SELDI-TOF-MS combines the advantages of microarray and mass spectrometry, and can screen latent markers in sera of patients with endometriosis. Serum samples from patients and normal volunteers were analyzed by SELDI-TOF-MS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After comparing the serum protein spectra of 36 patients with 24 normal controls, 24 differently expressed potential biomarkers (P < 0.01) were identified. Using Biomarker Pattern software, we established a tree model of the 60 serum protein spectra. When using the three biomarkers to classify the samples, the sensitivity for diagnosing endometriosis was 91.7%, specificity was 95.8%, and coincidence rate was 93.3%. Then we used serum samples from 12 patients and 8 normal controls to validate the tree model and report the sensitivity for diagnosing endometriosis was 91.7%, specificity was 75%, and coincidence rate was 85%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SELDI-TOF-MS may be a useful tool in high-risk population screening for endometriosis. The identification and application of the biomarkers need to further study.</p>