The clinical significence of determination of serum vascular endothelial growth factor and endostatin in endometriosis

Objective:To investigate the wether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endostatin could be used as new serum markers of endometriosis. Methods:Preoperative serum levels of VEGF and endostatin in 82 women with endometriosis(stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ 43 cases and stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ 39 cases) were assayed in duplicate using enzyme linked immunoadsordent assay. Serum levels were compared with levels of 60 healthy controls. Results: Serum VEGF and endostatin levels in endometriosis were significantly higher than that of controls. The levels of VEGF and endostatin of endonmetriosis stages Ⅰ-Ⅱ were significantly lower than those of stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of serum VEGF in detecting endometriosis were 0.92,0.78,0.82 and 0.90, respectively; those of enedostatin were 0.95, 0.84, 0.86 and 0.95, respectively. When both factors were used concomitantly, they were 0.98,0.75,0.76 and 0.98, respectively. Conclusion:These results indicates that the balance of angiogenic stimulators and inhibitors may regulate the development and progression of endometriosis and demonstrates that the circulating levels of both VEGF and endostatin maybe useful markers for endometriosis.