Peritoneal fluid concentrations of β-chemokines in endometriosis

ObjectiveTo examine whether the levels of MCP-1, RANTES and MCP-3 in the peritoneal fluid correlate with endometriosis.Study designPatients with endometriosis were compared with controls. Setting: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Subjects: This study involved 95 women of reproductive age who were undergoing laparoscopy for evaluation of infertility or for pelvic pain. They were divided into an endometriosis group (n = 54) and a control group (n = 41). Interventions: Peritoneal fluid samples were obtained and β-chemokines (MCP-1, RANTES and MCP-3) were measured using ELISA. Statistical analysis: Mean and median values were used to present values. Due to the non-normality of chemokines, a log transformation was applied. Differences were examined using independent samples t-test. One-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD multiple comparison post hoc tests were applied. A significance level at 0.05 was set.ResultsThe levels of MCP-1 are higher (p for log values = 0.024) in the control group (mean = 687.6, SD = 467.7 pg/ml) than those of the endometriosis group (mean = 570.4, SD = 633.1 pg/ml). The same is true for the median values of MCP-1 (control median = 568.5, endometriosis median = 384.7 pg/ml). MCP-3 and RANTES do not differ significantly (MCP-3 p = 0.787, RANTES p = 0.153). The levels of MCP-1 in patients with stage II endometriosis are significantly lower in comparison with stage III (p = 0.048) and stage IV (p = 0.033) endometriosis.ConclusionsA decrease in the concentrations of MCP-1 in stage I endometriosis has been observed, which is even larger in stage II, in contrast to stage III and stage IV endometriosis, which exhibit concentrations similar to the controls.