Patients with
endometriosis demonstrate
autoantibody abnormalities in their peripheral blood. Whether such abnormalities can also be detected in the peritoneal cavity, has not been established. We therefore investigated
autoantibodies to 6
phospholipid antigens, 5
histones and
histone subfractions and 4
polynucleotides in 14 laparoscopically diagnosed
endometriosis and 9 control patients, undergoing laparoscopic
tubal occlusion, in both serum and peritoneal fluid.
Endometriosis patients demonstrated significantly lower total
immunoglobulin G (
IgG) levels in peritoneal fluid than controls. In contrast, specific
IgG autoantibody levels were higher in peritoneal fluids of
endometriosis patients. Mean antiphospholipids and antihistones
autoantibodies reached significance when serum/peritoneal fluid ratios were compared with controls. Significant differences between
endometriosis and control patients were restricted to
IgG isotypes and were not observed for either
IgM or
IgA isotypes. These data suggest an abnormal concentration of
IgG antiphospholipids and antihistones
antibodies within the peritoneal cavity of
endometriosis patients, which may play a contributing role in the peritoneal pathology of this condition.