The potential and prospects of the quantitative phase imaging (QPI) diagnostic technology in obstetrics and gynecology

Rationale: An important role of immunological factors in the endometriosis pathophysiology allows for their consideration as diagnostic and prognostic disease markers. A promising approach to the diagnosis of immunological abnormalities is based on the non-invasive cell diagnostic technology of quantitative phase imaging (QPI), with underlying principles of laser interferometry and holography. Aim: To assess the QPI potential to identify diagnostic criteria for cell immunity abnormalities in female patients with external endometriosis. Materials and methods: We performed a quantitative assessment of the cytotoxic potential of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 22 patients with endometrioid ovarian cysts (mean age, 27.1 ± 3.4 years), 20 patients with uterine leiomyoma (mean age, 29.3 ± 4.1 years) and 20 health non-pregnant women of child-bearing age (mean age, 28.7 ± 3.6 years). We used the non-invasive QPI technique with the module for phase interference microscopy of the Russian hardand software complex Bioni (Westtrade Ltd., Russia). Results: We studied phase interference pictures of native lymphocytes to identify morphological and densitometry characteristics for CD4+ и CD8+ cells. Two groups of cells were identified in the cytotoxic lymphocyte population, which differed in their values of the phase thickness (Hcyt) and the area of cytoplasm adjacent to the membrane and containing the perforin granules (Scyt). It was found, that in the healthy controls the proportion of perforin-positive cytotoxic CD8+ lymphocytes was 37.1 ± 5.15%, in the patients with endometriosis 29.8 ± 6.34%, and in those with uterine leiomyoma 42.6 ± 5.89%. Discussion: Assessment of the lymphocyte cytotoxic potential by quantitative determination of cells containing perforin granules may be an important diagnostic and prognostic criterion of the disease course. Conclusion: Studies of the intracellular structures of lymphocytes by non-invasive and non-reagent technology QPI allows not only for a detailed evaluation of pathophysiological mechanisms of immune competent cell transformation in the course of a pathological process, but also gives future directions for development of new approaches to functional assessment of the immune system based on the results obtained.