Detection and analysis of antibody to transferrin in Chinese patients with endometriosis

Objectives: To establish an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for the detection of antibody to transferrin in the serum of female with endometriosis and provide a specific noninvasive diagnostic method for endometriosis. Methods: An ELISA method which used transferrin as coating antigen was established to detect the serum samples from 96 normal female, 64 pregnant female, 72 preadolescent women and 24 women with endometriosis. Results: The positive rates of antibody to transferrin in the serum of patients with endometriosis were obviously higher than those of control subjects (specificity 99.0%, sensitivity 95.8% and accuracy 99.2% ). Conclusions: Patients with endometriosis have significantly higher levels of antibody to transferrin than those of control subjects without endometriosis. Testing antibodies to transferrin will provide specific noninvasive diagnosis for endometriosis.