The role of some inflammatory markers, cytokins and tumor markers in diagnosis of endometriosis

Jadranka Georgievska, Gligor Tofoski, Горан Димитров, Ana Daneva-Markova, Viktorija Jovanovska, Dragi Dabeski, Sashe Jovcevski, Elena Džikova, Aleksandra Atanasova
In: Archives of Public Health · 2022 · vol. 14(2) · doi:10.3889/aph.2022.6060 · W4313036809
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Serum levels of CA-125, IL-6, TNF-α, and hs-CRP were significantly higher in endometriosis patients compared to controls, though none showed high individual diagnostic sensitivity.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a multifactorial disease which etiopathogenesis has not been elucidated. One of the theories of etiopathogenesis is the inflammatory theory. Aims of the study: To develop a practical non-invasive test for the diagnosis of endometriosis by examining some inflammatory markers and cytokines; to compare the highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), cytokines (interleukin-6-IL-6 and tumor necrotizing factor alpha) and the tumor marker cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) among healthy patients and patients with endometriosis; to determine the sensitivity and specificity of each biomarker separately in the diagnosis of endometriosis and to determine their role in the diagnosis of endometriosis. Materials and methods: In a prospective study conducted at the University Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia 138 patients were included of a reproductive age between 18-50 years (83 with diagnosis endometriosis operated laparoscopically or with laparotomy) and a control group of 55 healthy women, in a period between 01.09.2018 to 01.05.2021. Serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, hs-CRP and tumor marker CA-125 were evaluated in both groups. Results: Serum levels of CA-125, IL-6 and TNF-α and hs-CRP were significantly higher in patients with endometriosis compared to the control group. The surface under the ROC curve (AUC) for IL-6, CA-125, hs-CRP, and TNF-α has shown that as individual markers they all have a discriminatory capacity to diagnose patients with endometriosis. Conclusions: Results obtained in our study showed statistically significantly higher serum concentrations of CA-125, IL-6 and TNF-α and hs-CRP in patients with endometriosis compared to the control group of patients. However, none of these biomarkers showed a high sensitivity for diagnosis of endometriosis. It is necessary to find a panel combination of biomarkers with a high sensitivity of about 100% that will enable early diagnosis of endometriosis.

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endometriosis

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