Diagnosis of Endometriosis: Proteomics

Proteomics techniques have been applied to identify proteins for development as diagnostic markers of endometriosis, but to date most studies have been unable to overcome the presence of highly abundant proteins. The main issues to be resolved include the choice of sample for discovery of new markers (eutopic or ectopic tissue, peritoneal fluid, uterine lavage fluid or blood) and the classification of test samples. The application of emerging fractionation techniques to capture and concentrate low-abundance proteins, new non-gel-based proteomic technologies and various protein labeling strategies combined, and the ongoing development of advanced bio-informatics tools should enable progress towards the development of relatively non-invasive diagnostic methods for this disease.