Molecular mechanisms of formation of various stages of external genital endometriosis

Background. External genital endometriosis (EGE) is a complex, systemic clinical syndrome characterized by the presence of endometrioid tissue outside the uterine cavity and associated with chronic pain, menstrual irregularities, and negative impact on reproductive health and quality of life in women. Understanding these mechanisms of influence will improve fertility prognosis and minimize the risks associated with pregnancy, helping to reduce the incidence of its complications. Aims — to study the concentration of vascular adhesion protein (VAP-1) production, collagen content (COL1) and collagenase activity (MMP-1) of various stages of EGE. Methods. 137 women were examined, divided into 2 groups — the main and the control. The main group (47 patients with EGE) was divided into 2 subgroups: the first consisted of 25 patients with stage I–II EGE, the second included 22 patients with stage III–IV EGE. The control group consisted of 90 patients with no history of endometriosis. The production of vascular adhesion protein VAP-1, collagen and collagenase activity were determined by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using ELISA kits, USA. The studies were conducted using samples of blood serum and peritoneal fluid. Results. As a result of the discriminant and correlation analysis in all studied biofluids, significant correlation relationships were found between the production of collagen and VAP-1 especially for subgroup 1 (stage I–II endometriosis) (r = –0.90; p 0.05). Conclusions. Based on the data obtained, we proposed a method for early diagnosis of small forms of endometriosis, which made it possible to diagnose NGE in patients who did not have clinical manifestations of this process based on the content of VAP-1 in the blood serum of women of reproductive age (priority certificate No. 2024134973 (077609) dated November 21, 2024 was received).