ABSTRACT：

Endometriosis is a recurrent and benign gynecological disorder, defined by the ectopic presence of  endometrium. About 10% of reproductive-aged women suffer from endometriosis. There are no non-invasive or minimally invasive tests available in clinical practice to accurately diagnose endometriosis today.

Here, we present our efforts to determine the diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers in peritoneal fluid and blood plasma using flow injection analysis with electrospray  ionization  tandem  mass  spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) in 70 women with endometriosis and 20 women from a control group. The presence of
endometriosis was confirmed by surgical findings and post-operative pathological examination.  A  qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the lipids in peritoneal fluids and blood plasma was carried out  using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The analysis revealed more than 140 molecular species of lipids,  most of which pertained to five classes:  phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, sphingomyelins, di- and  triglycerides. The data were analyzed using a statistical multifactorial method (i.e., PLS-DA). It was found that 9 potential biomarkers of endometriosis  (LPC 16:0, PE O-20:0, PE O 34:1, PC36:2, PC 36:4, PC 36:5, PC 38:4, PC 38:6 and SM 34:1)  are  common in blood plasma and peritoneal fluid, supporting connection with the pathological process. The sensitivity of the method developed for plasma was 93% with a specificity of  95%;  for peritoneal fluid,  the sensitivity was 90% and the specificity 95%.  Accordingly, plasma is the most suitable biological fluid for clinical diagnostics of endometriosis.  Further validation of these lipids as serologic biomarkers may enhance non-invasive diagnostic tools for patients with suspected endometriosis and reduce the frequency of diagnostic laparoscopy.

2019-Natalia Starodubtseva-CMS-SCI.pdf