MiRNA Expression Profiles in an Ectopic Endometrium of Patients at Different Stage of Endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is a debilitating disease that affects up to 15% of women worldwide. Delayed diagnosis, lack of noninvasive biomarker and unexplained pathogenesis are key problems for specialists and patients alike. MiRNAs are a class of noncoding RNAs that regulate myriad of cellular functions. These gene expression regulators may prove to be attractive biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic value for endometriosis. Tissue samples were collected from the participants enrolled in the study during laparoscopy (patients) and hysteroscopy (control group). After RNA isolation (miRNeasy MiniKit, Qiagen) based on the disease stage, three pools – each containing 15 RNA samples, were constructed: 1) early stage endometriosis, 2) late stage endometriosis, and 3) healthy controls. Each pool sample was subjected to reverse transcription via miScript II RT Kit, Qiagen to obtain cDNA. SYBR Green based Real-time PCR assay was used to determine the expression profile of 84 miRNAs (Human miFinder miRNA PCR Array, Qiagen). We detected 32 differently expressed miRNAs between early stage endometriosis and control group, and 51 differently expressed miRNAs between advanced stage endometriosis and control group. Three miRNAs were differentially expressed with more than 10-fold change in the early stage group and thn miRNAs showed more than 10-fold change in the advanced stages group. The three miRNAs with the highest fold change in the expression levels in both case groups were nominated as potential biomarkers for endometriosis. The results of the analysis of their target genes supports the role of deregulation of apoptosis, angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and various other cellular signalling pathways in endometriosis development.