Anti-endometrial and anti-endothelial auto-antibodies in women with endometriosis

S Fernández-Shaw, B R Hicks, P Yudkin, P L Yudkin, Stephen Kennedy, S Kennedy, D H Barlow, David H. Barlow, P M Starkey
Human Reproduction · 1993 · vol. 8(2) , pp. 310–315 · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.humrep.a138042 · PMID:8473439 · W2267752430
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Women with endometriosis exhibit a higher frequency of anti-endometrial antibodies that target glands and vascular endothelium, with antibody reactivity varying by tissue source and correlating with infertility.

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Abstract

The present study investigates the specificity of anti-endometrial antibodies present in serum of women with endometriosis. A two colour indirect immuno-histochemical method was used, so that the antigenic reactivity of endogenous immunoglobulins was blocked and specific anti-endometrial antibodies were readily distinguishable. Serum was collected from women with endometriosis, before and after 6 months of treatment, and from women without the disease. The reactivity of serum with uterine and ectopic endometrium from women with and without the disease was studied. The frequency of anti-endometrial antibodies in the serum of women with endometriosis was higher (P < 0.001) than in control sera. Most antibodies specifically reacted with glands in ectopic and uterine endometrium. Antibody reactivity was strongest with endometrium from control women, compared with uterine and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis (P < 0.01). A proportion of sera containing anti-endometrial antibodies also reacted with vascular endothelium. Binding was strongest to vessels in uterine and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis compared to endometrium from women without the disease (P < 0.01). The presence of anti-endometrial antibodies was associated with infertility.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Autoantibodies Endometriosis Endometrium Endothelium, Vascular Antibody Specificity Autoantibodies Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endothelium, Vascular Female Humans Immunohistochemistry Reference Values

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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