SNP rs710886 A>G in long noncoding RNA PCAT1 is associated with the risk of endometriosis by modulating expression of multiple stemness-related genes via microRNA-145 signaling pathway

MiR-145 has been shown to suppress cell invasiveness and proliferation in endometriosis, whereas prostate cancer-associated transcript 1 (PCAT1) was reported to act as a sponge of miR-145 with one single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs710886, located in the chromosomal segment of PCAT1. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association between rs710886 SNP and the risk of endometriosis, as well as the effect of this SNP on the activation of the signaling pathway downstream of PCAT1. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to observe the expression of miR-145 in transfected cells, while Matrigel invasion chamber assays and MTT assay were conducted to examine the invasiveness/proliferation among different cell groups. Moreover, bioinformatics tools, luciferase assays, real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis were used to measure the expression of these target genes in the presence of miR-145. Finally, a statistical analysis was conducted to compare the genotypes of rs710886 SNP between fertile healthy women and infertile women with endometriosis. PCAT1 small interfering RNA (siRNA) evidently increased the expression of miR-145 but reduced the invasiveness/proliferation of cells. P-PCAT1 exhibited an opposite effect as that of PCAT1 siRNA, indicating PCAT1 could promote the proliferation and invasiveness of endometriosis stem cells via inhibiting the expression of miR-145. Meanwhile, FASCIN1, SOX2, MSI2, SERPINE1, and JAM-A were identified as target genes of miR-145 via computational analysis and luciferase assays. Finally, a significant genetic effect was observed in both the dominant (AG+GG vs AA) and recessive models (GG vs AG+AA), indicating the presence of an association between the genotype of SNP rs710886 and the risk of endometriosis. SNP rs710886 A>G could lower the expression of PCAT1, thus leading to the overexpression of miR-145. Highly expressed miR-145 would inhibit the invasiveness and proliferation of endometriosis stem cells via targeting specific genes, thus decreasing the risk of endometriosis.