Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100853, China.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, 17 Heishanhu Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100091, China.
Reprod Sci. 2020 Sep;27(9):1715-1723. doi: 10.1007/s43032-020-00148-z. Epub 2020 Jul 10.
Endometriosis, as a prevalent gynecological disease, is characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, causing infertility and considerable pain and affecting the quality of life of women. The pathogenic mechanism has not been fully elucidated, and there are no effective biomarkers for endometriosis. In our study, microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling of 10 ectopic endometrial plasma from patients with ovarian endometriosis and 10 normal plasma from healthy controls was analyzed using a microarray. As a result, 114 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. Among them, 14 miRNAs were significantly downregulated in patients with ovarian endometriosis, which matched the microarray results. The diagnostic value of the 14 downregulated miRNAs in ovarian endometriosis was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and hsa-let-7i-5p showed the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) with a value of 0.900. The target genes of the 14 miRNAs were predicted by miRWalk2.0, and the genes that were targeted by at least 2 of the 14 miRNAs were analyzed by function enrichment. The target genes were significantly enriched in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, such as microRNAs in cancer, bladder cancer, and endocrine resistance pathways, and the Gene Ontology (GO) terms such as nucleobase-containing compound metabolic process, cellular nitrogen compound biosynthetic process, and heterocycle metabolic process. The identified 14 differentially expressed miRNAs could be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.
子宫内膜异位症是一种常见的妇科疾病，其特征是子宫内膜样组织出现在子宫以外的部位，导致不孕以及严重的疼痛，并影响女性的生活质量。其发病机制尚未完全阐明，也没有针对子宫内膜异位症的有效生物标志物。在我们的研究中，通过微阵列分析了 10 例卵巢子宫内膜异位症患者和 10 例健康对照者异位子宫内膜血浆中的 microRNA（miRNA）表达谱。结果鉴定出 114 个差异表达的 miRNA。其中，14 个 miRNA 在卵巢子宫内膜异位症患者中显著下调，与微阵列结果相匹配。通过Receiver Operating Characteristic（ROC）曲线分析评估了这 14 个下调 miRNA 在卵巢子宫内膜异位症中的诊断价值，hsa-let-7i-5p 的 ROC 曲线下面积（AUC）最高，为 0.900。通过 miRWalk2.0 预测了这 14 个 miRNA 的靶基因，并对至少被 2 个 miRNA 靶向的基因进行功能富集分析。靶基因在京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）途径中显著富集，如癌症、膀胱癌和内分泌抵抗途径中的 microRNAs，以及含核碱基的化合物代谢过程、细胞氮化合物生物合成过程和杂环代谢过程等基因本体论（GO）术语。鉴定出的 14 个差异表达的 miRNA 可能是子宫内膜异位症诊断和治疗的潜在生物标志物和治疗靶点。
