Title: Serum concentrations of IL-16 and its genetic polymorphism rs4778889 affect the
susceptibility and severity of endometriosis in Nigerian women.
Version: 2 Date: 15 Nov 2022
Reviewer's report:
Paper after minor corrections ready for publication:
General
Please provide manufacturer’s SNP ID in method section (from Thermo website), for rs1800795
it will be C___1839697_20
DNA was diluted to equal concentrations before genotyping?
What normality test was used for test determination in Statistical analysis paragraph?
Page 2, line 20: remove ”Their”
Page 3, line 2: were performed using  TaqMan assays
Page 3, line 19: maybe ”present a challenge”?
Page 4, line 6: both pro- and anti-inflammatory
Page 4, line 10: neuroendocrine system, and neuropsychological
Page 4, line 11: IL-6 is comparatively low under normal conditions -> comparatively IL-6 is
present low levels under normal conditions, but it is…
Page 4, line 14: if cursive, than IL6 instead IL-6 (IL6 gene name, IL-6 protein)
Page 4: line 16: typo - IL_6
Page 4, line 22: Koga et al. have
Page 5, line 1: if cursive, than IL6
Page 5, line 5: as above
Page 5, line 7: asthma, Crohn's disease, cancer, and ischaemic stroke
Page 5, line 16: remove bracket
Page 6, line 12: double spaces in line, check whole manuscript
Page 6, line 12: parity -> number of births?
Page 6, line 16-17: Four millilitres of peripheral  blood sample was collected from each
participant by venepuncture
Page 6, line 17: The blood samples collected were -> The collected blood samples were
Page 6, line 17: The collected blood samples were stored at -80 0C until analysis (remove “were
processed immediately for Interleukins 6 and 16 measurements and DNA extraction. Plasma
and DNA samples”)
Page 7, line 14: space between year and a bracket
Page 8, line 10: …in the control group suffer from ascites compared…
Page 8, line 16: missing % sign in one bracket
Page 10, line 1: There was no statistically significant difference in serum IL-6 or IL-16
concentration -> There was no statistically significant difference in IL-6 or IL-16 serum
concentration
Page 10, line 12: There was no statistical significance in the serum IL-6 level distribution
according -> There was no statistical significance in the IL-6 serum level distribution
according…
Page 10, line 13-15: rearrange sentence, it indicates that values in brackets are IL-6 levels (or
add unit if values present IL-6 concentration)
Page 11, line 1: IL-16 serum distribution
Page 11, line 2: add unit for presented values
Page 16, line 2-3: Endometriosis affects the immune system and involves inflammatory
responses like the cytokines -> Endometriosis affects the immune system and induce
proinflammatory factors, like …
Page 16, line 19-20: reported in a third of our cases i.e. women with endometriosis -> reported
in a third of our endometriosis cases
Page 16, line 22: typo -> tpo
Page 18, line 1-3: provide citation, ex NCBI database
Table I:
where applicable, add % into brackets
instead Parity use number births?
name column 2 as questionnaire answer?
bold or underline significance values
notes: Mean (±SD)
Table II.
where applicable, add % into brackets
it would be interesting to present data for dominant (TT+TG vs GG) and recessive model (GG
+TG vs TT) in for rs4778889, where P-value was significant
move HWE values in notes under the table
Table III.
title : case group -> endometriosis patients
add range to values description -> Serum IL-16 (pg/ml) [range]
Table IV.
values in bracket are %? add this information
add notes under the table about statistical test (X2?)