ProteinChip⁎ technology is a useful method in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of endometriosis: a preliminary study

ObjectiveTo test the feasibility of ProteinChip (Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc., Fremont, CA) technology as a proteomic tool in discovering and identifying proteins that are differentially expressed in endometrium, endometriotic tissue, and normal peritoneum from women with and without endometriosis.DesignDifferential analysis of protein expression in women with and without endometriosis.SettingUniversity hospital.Patient(s)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.Intervention(s)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.Main Outcome Measure(s)Numerous expression differences were observed in the above comparisons, representing both up-regulation and down-regulation in protein and peptide expression levels.Result(s)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.Conclusion(s)This preliminary study demonstrated that differential protein profiling by using ProteinChip array technology is feasible, reproducible, and may be developed into a powerful tool for endometriosis research.