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

Objective: To 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.

Design: Differential analysis of protein expression in women with and without endometriosis.

Setting: University 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.