Circulating miRNAs as non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis of endometriosis

[EN] Endometriosis is a highly incapacitating benign gynaecological disease; whose main symptoms are infertility and associated chronic pain. Currently, there is a diagnostic delay of 7-8 years, which leads to diagnoses in advanced stages, with a high impact on the quality of life of affected women. miRNAs are small non-coding 19-22 nt RNAs that inhibit transcription by binding to messenger mRNA and that have demonstrated their role in the physiopathology of different diseases, including endometriosis. The discovery of miRNAs in different biofluids (including plasma and peritoneal fluid) and their high stability as circulating miRNAs has increased the interest in their characterization as non-invasive biomarkers of disease. The aim of the present end-of-degree work is to characterize a group of miRNAs as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers of endometriosis. To this end, total RNA (miRNeasy mini kit, Qiagen) will be extracted from 88 plasma samples from patients at different stages of the disease and 26 plasma samples from women without endometriosis. After selecting from 1) arrays of miRNAs (Affymetrix) that the research group has already performed and 2) from the literature the miRNAs of interest, a quantification will be performed in the total of samples by means of qRT-PCR (miRCury LNA miRNA PCR assays, Qiagen; LightCycler 480 II Thermal Cycler, Roche). In all steps, accurate quality control will be performed to assure the reliability of results. Next, appropriate statistical analyses will be performed from a database that integrates the results of the quantification and the clinical variables of interest of the patients and controls to determine the potential of the selected miRNAs in the non-invasive diagnosis of endometriosis. The results will be discussed with the rest of the research team for the preparation of the endof-degree work written report, which will include a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the subject.