Markedly elevated soluble E-cadherin in plasma of patient with pelvic inflammatory disease

Objective: To estimate the expression of plasma soluble E-cadherin and the gene polymorphism in patients with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Design: Hospital-based case-control study. Setting: University hospital. Patient(s): Sixty-four women with PID. Intervention(s): Blood specimen collection from patients before and after they received treatment. Main Outcome Measure(s): Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism were respectively used to measure the plasma soluble E-cadherin level and E-cadherin polymorphism. Result(s): The level of plasma E-cadherin was significantly elevated in patients with PID as compared with that in normal controls; it decreased significantly after treatment when compared with levels noted in the same patients before they received treatment. When the cutoff level of plasma E-cadherin level was set to 20.22 ng/mL on the basis of receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC), the sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve of plasma E-cadherin level for predicting PID were 0.81, 0.80, and 0.835 (95% confidence interval 0.76-0.90), respectively. The adjusted odds ratio for age, white blood cell count, and C-reactive protein levels was 19.66 (5.48-70.47). Conclusion(s): Elevated plasma soluble E-cadherin expression was involved in the pathogenesis of PID and is useful for the diagnosis of PID.