NUCKS1 is Overexpressed in Endometriosis

Bo Li, Bocen Chen, Xiaoli Wang, Kan Zhang, Wenjiao Ye, Da Peng Zhao, Xiao Hua Wang, Yan Yu, Jun Li, Xun Xu, Wenhui Zhang, Yanhua Zhang, Man Xiao
In: Research Square · 2023 · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2219179/v1 · W4313855352
preprint OA: green CC0
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

NUCKS1 is overexpressed in endometriosis tissues, and its inhibition reduces cell viability, migration, and increases apoptosis by activating PI3K and NF-κB pathways, with VEGF also involved.

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

The study investigated whether the nuclear protein NUCKS1 is dysregulated in endometriosis and assessed its functional effects in endometriosis cells. Using RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry on ectopic and eutopic endometrial specimens and siRNA-mediated NUCKS1 inhibition in hEM15A cells, the authors reported that NUCKS1 was highly expressed in endometriosis tissues and that inhibiting NUCKS1 reduced cell viability and migration while increasing apoptosis; they also found decreased NF-κB and PI3K expression and reduced VEGF expression. A key limitation is the small sample size (13 ectopic, 2 eutopic, and 4 normal tissues) and the fact that tissue work focused on ovarian endometriosis with in vitro mechanistic experiments in one cell line. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it reports overexpression of NUCKS1 in endometriosis tissues and links NUCKS1 to PI3K/NF-κB signaling and VEGF through NUCKS1 inhibition experiments.

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Abstract

Abstract Background Endometriosis is still a difficult problem for women.The Nuclear Ubiquitous Casein and cyclin-dependent Kinase Substrate 1(NUCKS1)gene is located on human chromosome 1q32.1. It encodes the NUCKS1 protein, a 27 kDa nuclear DNA binding protein that plays an important role in cell growth and proliferation. NUCKS1 plays an important role in the development of many diseases. However, its role in endometriosis is unclear. Methods Ectopic endometrial tissues and normal tissue specimens were collected, and the expression of NUCKS1, NF-κB and PI3K was detected by RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Inhibition of NUCKS1 in hEM15A cells, study the changes in cell viability, apoptosis, migration and protein expression by CCK8 assay, flow cytometry, wound-healing assay, western blot and ELISA techniques. The comparison of differences between the two groups was implemented using the unpaired sample t test or the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test. One-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-wallis test was used for comparisons among the three groups. Results (1) NUCKS1 is highly expressed in endometriosis tissues. (2) Inhibition of NUCKS1 decreases cell viability and capability of migration, and increases apoptosis in endometriosis cells. (3) Expressions of NF-κB and PI3K are increased in endometriosis tissues, and inhibition of NUCKS1 decreases the expression levels of PI3K and NF-κB in endometriosis cells. (4) Inhibition of NUCKS1 decreases the expression of VEGF. Conclusion (1) NUCKS1 is overexpressed in endometriosis, and inhibition of NUCKS1 inhibits cell viability and capability of migration, and increases apoptosis. (2) NUCKS1 promotes the progress of endometriosis through activating PI3K and NF-κB pathways, and VEFG is also involved in this process.

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endometriosis

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