Extracellular vesicles from endometriosis patients are characterized by a unique miRNA-lncRNA signature

Kasra Khalaj, Jessica E Miller, Harshavardhan Lingegowda, Asgerally T Fazleabas, Steven L Young, Bruce A Lessey, Madhuri Koti, Chandrakant Tayade
JCI insight · 2019 · vol. 4(18) · doi:10.1172/jci.insight.128846 · PMID:31534048 · W2973570572
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 42 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

Extracellular vesicles from endometriosis patients exhibit distinct miRNA-lncRNA profiles and promote disease progression through inflammation, angiogenesis, and proliferation.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This paper investigated whether extracellular vesicles (EVs) from endometriosis patients carry distinct molecular cargo and whether they can influence key disease processes, using next-generation sequencing of EV miRNAs and lncRNAs from patient tissue EVs and plasma, alongside mass spectrometry–based EV proteomics from plasma and peritoneal fluid. The authors found that patient EVs have unique miRNA/lncRNA signatures and that EV proteomics enriched specific pathways, with altered immune and metabolic processes, plus functional in vitro evidence showing EV uptake and autocrine/paracrine proliferative effects in endometriotic epithelial and endothelial cell lines and cytokine shifts in response to patient EVs. A major limitation explicitly acknowledged is that the early molecular mechanisms underlying immune regulation and lesion establishment remain poorly understood, and the paper’s EV findings therefore rely on in vitro functional models rather than in vivo confirmation. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — characterizing endometriosis-associated EV miRNA/lncRNA signatures and demonstrating EV-driven inflammatory, angiogenic, and proliferative effects.

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Abstract

With multifactorial etiologies, combined with disease heterogeneity and a lack of suitable diagnostic markers and therapy, endometriosis remains a major reproductive health challenge. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as major contributors of disease progression in several conditions, including a variety of cancers; however, their role in endometriosis pathophysiology has remained elusive. Using next-generation sequencing of EVs obtained from endometriosis patient tissues and plasma samples compared with controls, we have documented that patient EVs carry unique signatures of miRNAs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) reflecting their contribution to disease pathophysiology. Mass spectrophotometry-based proteomic analysis of EVs from patient plasma and peritoneal fluid further revealed enrichment of specific pathways, as well as altered immune and metabolic processes. Functional studies in endometriotic epithelial and endothelial cell lines using EVs from patient plasma and controls clearly indicate autocrine uptake and paracrine cell proliferative roles, suggestive of their involvement in endometriosis. Multiplex cytokine analysis of cell supernatants in response to patient and control plasma-derived EVs indicate robust signatures of important inflammatory and angiogenic cytokines known to be involved in disease progression. Collectively, these findings suggest that endometriosis-associated EVs carry unique cargo and contribute to disease pathophysiology by influencing inflammation, angiogenesis, and proliferation within the endometriotic lesion microenvironment.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Exosomes Inflammation MicroRNAs RNA, Long Noncoding Ascitic Fluid Ascitic Fluid Autocrine Communication Autocrine Communication Autocrine Communication Case-Control Studies Cell Line Cell Proliferation Cell Proliferation Cytokines Cytokines Cytokines Disease Progression Endometriosis Endometriosis

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