Identification of molecular markers for endometriosis in blood lymphocytes by using deoxyribonucleic acid microarrays

Objective: To identify molecular biomarkers for endometriosis in peripheral blood lymphocytes by: using DNA microarrays. Design: Case-control. Setting: Multicenter academic research programs: Patient(s): Premenopausal women with or without endometriosis,, determined by obstetrics and gynecology specialists during surgery. Micro-array analysis; included-six endometriosis patients and five,controls; 15 endometriosis patients and 15 controls were analyzed by using real-time reverse-transcription, polymerase chain reaction., (RT-PCR).Patients with all disease stages. were included. Intervention(s): Peripheral blood samples were collected by venipuncture. Main Outcome Measure(S): The expression levels of mRNAs in blood lymphocytes from endometrosis patients and controls were compared with those of a standard total RNA. Gene expression data;were validated by real-time RT-PCR analysis. Result(s): A gene selection program; identified genes that were differentially expressed in samples from endometriosis patients. To validate the gene expression data, the nine most discriminatory genes were analyzed a; by real-time RT-PCR. Two of the nine genes identified, IL2RG and LOXL1, were shown: to be significantly differentially expressed. Conclusion(s): This is the first report of genes that are differentially expressed in peripheral blood lymphocytes: of patients with, endometrosis, which may provide important clues, regarding the pathogenesis of this disease:Moreover, they could be considered potential targets for noninvasive diagnostic assays for endometriosis and x need to be validated in a larger population.