Analysis of Serum microRNA Profile by Solexa Sequencing in Women With Endometriosis

Lei Wang, Wei Huang, Caiping Ren, Ming Zhao, Xingjun Jiang, Xiaoling Fang, Xiaomeng Xia
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2016 · vol. 23(10) , pp. 1359–1370 · doi:10.1177/1933719116641761 · PMID:27412772 · W2469253990
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Solexa sequencing identified 108 differentially expressed miRNAs in serum from women with endometriosis, with 98 downregulated and 10 upregulated, potentially serving as diagnostic biomarkers.

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This study analyzed serum microRNA (miRNA) profiles to evaluate noninvasive biomarker potential for endometriosis, using Solexa sequencing in 30 women with minimal–mild endometriosis and 20 controls, with expression results further validated by qPCR in additional samples. Deep sequencing identified 108 miRNAs differentially expressed in patients versus controls, with 98 downregulated and 10 upregulated, and the authors note that only 21 of the downregulated miRNAs matched prior published literature while none of the upregulated miRNAs had prior reports, attributing this to differences in samples and analytical methods. Functional annotation of predicted target genes using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes suggested that many differential miRNAs could be involved in endometriosis-related biological processes. This paper is centrally about endometriosis—Solexa-defined circulating serum miRNA signatures for diagnosing minimal–mild endometriosis.

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Abstract

Objective(s) The potential roles of serum microRNAs (miRNAs), as biomarkers, in noninvasive diagnosis of endometriosis have been reported by microarray analysis. However, microarray analysis cannot perform well in outcome accuracy and repeatability and is not suitable to be used for exploring new targets. Here, Solexa sequencing, a wide and precise method, was adopted to further analyze the serum miRNAs profile in endometriosis, which may offer more evidence to apply serum miRNAs as biomarkers in diagnosis of endometriosis.

Materials and methods

Serum samples were collected from 30 patients with minimal–mild endometriosis and 20 women without endometriosis as control. Expression of serum miRNAs was measured by Solexa sequencing and validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

Results

Solexa sequencing showed 93.63% clean readouts for all small RNAs in the serum of patients with endometriosis and controls. A total of 108 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in the serum of patients with endometriosis by deep sequencing, compared to controls. Among them, 98 miRNAs were significantly downregulated, while 10 miRNAs were significantly upregulated. Only 21 of 98 significantly downregulated miRNAs, and none of significantly upregulated miRNAs were reported in published literatures, which may be due to the differences in samples and analytical methods. The Solexa sequencing results were consequently validated by qPCR in additional samples. Some miRNAs were identified to be promising diagnostic markers of endometriosis. The functional annotation of target genes revealed by Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses indicated that a majority of differential miRNAs might be involved in endometriosis.

Conclusion

Circulating miRNAs may be useful as detection biomarkers for the early diagnosis of minimal–mild endometriosis. Similar content being viewed by others

References

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing MicroRNAs MicroRNAs Sequence Analysis, DNA Adult Biomarkers Biomarkers Down-Regulation Endometriosis Endometriosis Female High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing Humans MicroRNAs Middle Aged Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Sequence Analysis, DNA Young Adult

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