Purpose: To determine the presence of OC-125 staining in endometriotic lesions and to verify whether there is an association with endometriosis stage.
Methods: Thirteen patients from the Family Planning programs (group I) and 53 patients from the Chronic Pelvic Pain outpatient clinic (group II) were studied. Endometriotic lesions were excised from areas of endometriosis incidence and studied by histopathological assay and by immunohistochemistry for OC-125 staining.
Results: The histopathological study disclosed that all patients from group I had minimal/mild endometriosis. In group II, 39.6% had minimal/mild endometriosis, and 60.4% had moderate/severe endometriosis. OC-125 staining was negative in all samples from group I. In group II, OC-125 staining was positive in 52.4% patients with minimal/mild endometriosis and in 81.2% with moderate/severe endometriosis.
Conclusion: The data suggest that the OC-125 antibody is probably related to endometriosis activity and, consequently, to the progression and severity of the illness.