Effect of endometrial biopsy method on ribonucleic acid quality and gene expression analysis in patients with leiomyoma

Objective

To compare ribonucleic acid (RNA) quantity and purity in tissue collected with different endometrial sampling methods to establish the optimal tool for use in endometrial gene expression studies.

Design

Observational study.

Setting

University hospital.

Patients

Fourteen patients with submucosal leiomyomas.

Interventions

Unguided biopsies were obtained using a low-pressure suction device before hysteroscopy from 14 patients with submucosal leiomyomas followed by guided biopsy with a resectoscope loop. Fifty-seven samples were collected: 25 obtained using a suction device and 32 with a loop.

Main Outcome Measures

Total biopsy weight, RNA purity, and RNA yield for each collection method. After complementary deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, HOXA10 expression was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in the endometrium overlying and remote from the leiomyoma, as similar expression throughout the cavity was a prerequisite for the use of unguided biopsy method.

Results

The median weight of the samples was significantly larger when obtained with the low-pressure suction device than with the resectoscope loop (153 vs. 20 mg). The RNA yield was similar (suction curette, 1,625 ng/mg; resectoscope loop, 1,779 ng/mg). The A260-to-A280 ratio was satisfactory for 94.7 % of the samples, with no difference between the groups. The endometrial expression of HOXA10 was similar in areas overlying the leiomyoma compared with that in remote endometrial sites (2^−ΔCt = 0.0224 vs. 0.0225).

Conclusions

Low-pressure endometrial suction devices provide tissue samples with acceptable RNA purity and quantity for gene expression studies. The expression of HOXA10 did not differ between endometrial sampling sites even in the presence of leiomyomas.