ProteinChip
technology may be a useful method in the pathogenesis
and diagnosis of endometriosis
This preliminary study condudcted at Leuven University
Fertility and the Primate Research Centre in Naiboriy,
has demonstrated that differential protein profiling
by using ProteinChip array technology is feasible, reproducible,
and may be developed into a powerful tool for endometriosis
research.
The researchers tested the feasibility of ProteinChip
(Ciphergen Biosystems Inc, Fremont, CA) technology as
a proteomic tool in discovering and identifying and
analysing proteins that are differentially expressed
in endometrium, endometriotic tissue, and normal peritoneum
from women with and without endometriosis.
A total of nine patients during their secretory phase
(days 20-22) were selected for this study on the basis
of cycle phase and presence/or absence of endometriosis.
Twelve tissues used in the study included six endometrial
biopsies from women with mild endometriosis (n = 3)
and a normal pelvis (n = 3) as well as paired samples
of peritoneal endometriotic lesions (n = 3) and macroscopically
normal peritoneum biopsies (n = 3) from three women
with endometriosis. Numerous expression differences
were observed in the above comparisons, representing
both up-regulation and down-regulation in protein and
peptide expression levels.
The study showed that endometrial expression for a
number of proteins and peptides in the range of 2.8-12.3
kDa was 3-24 times lower in women with endometriosis
than in those without endometriosis. When compared with
normal peritoneum, endometriotic lesions showed an increased
expression for a set of proteins and peptides in the
range of 3-96 kDa, and especially an up-regulated cluster
of proteins between 22 and 23 kDa, identified to be
transgelin, a smooth muscle actin-binding protein.
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