Anti-endometrial autoantibodies in women with a diagnosis of infertility.

PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of anti-endometrial antibodies (AEA) in infertile women. METHOD OF STUDY: Sera from fertile women (n = 6), and from patients with ovulatory dysfunction (n = 11), tubal obstruction (n = 9) and unexplained infertility (n = 5) were investigated for the presence of anti-endometrial membrane antibodies. We used two human endometrial cancer cell lines and human endometrial cells from gynecological biopsies as an antigenic source for analysis. The immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA) was performed with cultured endometrial cells in monolayers. Immunoblot analysis was performed with these two cell lines. RESULTS: A good correlation between the response with each cell line and with human endometrial cells was obtained, indicating that the antigens analyzed were probably similar. Endometrial antibodies were detectable in a high percentage of women with tubal obstruction (77.8 and 66.7%, respectively) and ovulatory dysfunction (54.5 and 45.5%, respectively). Unexplained infertility showed anti-endometrial immunological response (40 and 60%, respectively). Some endometrial antigens in infertile women are the target for autoimmune response. The serum from a patient with tubal obstruction and ovulatory dysfunction showed two antigens by immunoblot, with molecular weights of 97 and 50 kDa. CONCLUSION: The presence of anti-endometrial antibodies, detected by ELISA, is associated with infertility, mainly with ovulatory dysfunction and tubal obstruction. Some endometrial antigens may be involved in these two pathologies.

[Study of the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in benign diseases]. / Estudio del antígeno del carcinoma de células escamosas (scc) en las enfermedades benignas.

BACKGROUND: The values of the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in benign diseases were studied with the aim of determining false positive values in the study of epidermoid carcinomas. METHODS: Serum determinations of the SCC antigen were performed by radioimmunoanalysis with the Abbott SCC-RIA kit. The control group was made up of a total of 719 subjects of whom 317 were healthy blood donors and 402 were healthy women with normal cervicovaginal cytology. The study group was made up of 693 women with benign diseases. RESULTS: Ninety-eight point two percent of the subjects from the control group presented values under 2.5 ng/ml, therefore this value was chosen as the maximum limit of normality. Higher values than this threshold of normality were observed in 11.7% of the 34 patients with chronic disease (0.1-18.2 ng/ml) and in 57.5% of the 40 patients with chronic renal failure (0.5-6.0 ng/ml). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chronic liver disease or chronic renal failure, the serum determination of the squamous cell carcinoma antigen loses its value as a tumor marker of epidermoid carcinomas given the risk of obtaining false positive values.