miR-146b level and variants is associated with endometriosis related macrophages phenotype and plays a pivotal role in the endometriotic pain symptom

Zengzhen Zhang, Huiqing Li, Zhitao Zhao, Zhao Zhitao, Baofeng Gao, Li Meng, Xianguang Feng
Taiwanese journal of obstetrics & gynecology · 2019 · vol. 58(3) , pp. 401–408 · doi:10.1016/j.tjog.2018.12.003 · PMID:31122533 · W2945500373
article OA: diamond CC0 ⤵ 14 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Increased miR-146b expression and specific variants are associated with endometriosis, macrophage phenotype, and endometriotic pain by negatively regulating inflammation via IRF5.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the effect of miR-146b expression and variants on endometriosis and its associated pain symptom. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genotyping and expression of miR-146b was performed on 74 endometriosis patients and 23 healthy controls. ESCs were subsequently co-cultured with peripheral blood (PB)-derived monocytes (PBMC)-driven macrophages. After overexpression and inhibition of miR-146b, cytokine production from the macrophages were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Western blot were done to measure the regulation of IRF5 by miR-146b. RESULTS: We found that miR-146b expression was increased in PF supernatant and PF CD14 + monocytes/Macrophages of endometriosis patients, with endometriosis patients with pain (EPWP) showing higher miR-146b expression compared with the endometriosis patients without pain (EPNP). CT/CC genotype of miR-146b rs1536309 was associated with the risk of pain symptom of endometriosis. For the function studies, we found that miR-146b was involved in the negative regulation of inflammation through attenuating IRF5 expression. Macrophages from patients who carries CT/CC genotype of miR-146b rs1536309 showed decreasing miR-146b expression and enhancement of the ability of pro-inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest an important role of miR-146b level and variants in endometriosis that helps to regulate the process of endometriosis and its associated pain.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis MicroRNAs Pain Adult Case-Control Studies Endometriosis Female Humans Interferon Regulatory Factors Macrophages Macrophages Pain Stromal Cells Stromal Cells Surveys and Questionnaires

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (36)

Cited by (14)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:22:48.502547+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK