Evaluation of YB-1 levels in patients with endometriosis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is the evaluation of serum YB-1 levels in the diagnosis of endometriosis.

STUDY DESIGN: Serum samples of 12 patients with histologically confirmed endometriosis and of 10 control patients were collected. Western blot analysis was used to assess serum YB-1 levels. Groups were compared with Student's t-test or, if not normally distributed, with the Mann-Whitney test. Sensitivity and specificity for the potential diagnostic performance of serum YB-1 were assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.

RESULTS: Serum YB-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with endometriosis (=0.004). The area under the curve was 0.867 (95% confidence interval 0.714-1.019) with sensitivity and specificity of 83.3% and 70% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Serum YB-1 levels in patients with endometriosis are significantly higher compared to control patients and may be used as a potential diagnostic biomarker for endometriosis.