Zhang Hepeng, Liu Tianjiao, Zhou Ziyun, Zhang Aixia, Zhu Yuan, Zhang Jing, Pan Lianjun, Ma Jiehua
Department of Urology, The People's Hospital of Yuyao, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Women Health Care, Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Sex Med. 2018 Dec;6(4):339-347. doi: 10.1016/j.esxm.2018.09.002. Epub 2018 Oct 24.
Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is a common disease with serious potential hazards, but it has not received much attention. The pathogenesis of FSD is urgently needed for the diagnosis and treatment of FSD.
To investigate the role of microribonucleic acid (mRNA, miR)-137 in FSD.
Vaginal epithelium tissues from 15 women with lubrication disorder and 15 women with normal function were collected for this study. The expression level of miR-137 in lubrication disorder and normal function women were measured by microarray analysis and Real-time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR, qPCR). miR-137 was overexpressed in vaginal epithelial cells VK2/E6E7 by lentivirus infection. The cell water permeability was measured using the calcein-quenching method. Cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The potential target of miR-137 was predicted by bioinformatic analysis, then verified by luciferase reporter assays.
The expression level of miR-137 and aquaporin-2 (AQP2), cell water permeability, cell apoptosis, and luciferase reporter assays were examined.
miR-137 was found to be highly expressed in vaginal epithelial tissues of women with lubrication disorder. Additionally, functional in vitro studies suggested that overexpression of miR-137 leads to a decrease in cell permeability. By combining target prediction and examination, we identified AQP2 as the direct mechanistic target of miR-137 that affected the water permeability of vaginal epithelial cells.
Our results point to a novel role for miR-137 and its downstream effector AQP2 in vaginal lubrication, which can be manipulated as therapeutic targets against lubrication disorder and its related disorders. Zhang H, Liu T, Zhou Z. miR-137 affects vaginal lubrication in female sexual dysfunction by targeting Aquaporin-2. Sex Med 2018;6:339-347.
女性性功能障碍（FSD）是一种具有严重潜在危害的常见疾病，但尚未得到足够重视。FSD的发病机制对于其诊断和治疗至关重要。
探讨微小核糖核酸（miR）-137在FSD中的作用。
本研究收集了15名有润滑障碍的女性和15名功能正常的女性的阴道上皮组织。通过微阵列分析和实时定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）检测miR-137在有润滑障碍和功能正常女性中的表达水平。通过慢病毒感染在阴道上皮细胞VK2/E6E7中过表达miR-137。使用钙黄绿素淬灭法测量细胞水通透性。通过流式细胞术分析细胞凋亡。通过生物信息学分析预测miR-137的潜在靶标，然后通过荧光素酶报告基因测定进行验证。
检测miR-137和水通道蛋白-2（AQP2）的表达水平、细胞水通透性、细胞凋亡以及荧光素酶报告基因测定。
发现miR-137在有润滑障碍的女性阴道上皮组织中高表达。此外，体外功能研究表明，miR-137的过表达导致细胞通透性降低。通过结合靶标预测和检测，我们确定AQP2是miR-137影响阴道上皮细胞水通透性的直接机制靶标。
我们的结果表明miR-137及其下游效应物AQP2在阴道润滑中具有新作用，可作为针对润滑障碍及其相关疾病的治疗靶点进行调控。张H，刘T，周Z。miR-137通过靶向水通道蛋白-2影响女性性功能障碍中的阴道润滑。性医学2018；6：339 - 347。
