Differential expression and functional analysis of micro RNAs in <em>Papio anubis</em> induced with endometriosis for early detection of the disease

Abstract

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder affecting approximately 10% of women of reproductive age who often experience chronic pelvic pain and infertility. Laparoscopy, which is invasive and expensive, is the gold standard for diagnosis of endometriosis. A simple minimally-invasive test for endometriosis-specific biomarkers which is yet to be realized would offer a timely and accurate diagnosis for the disease thereby allowing early treatment intervention. Although aberrant microRNA expression has been implicated in endometriosis in several studies, conflicting results have been reported. This study hypothesized that the use of an appropriate animal model will provide a unique entry point for the discovery of biomarkers for early diagnosis of endometriosis. The study aimed at identifying miRNAs that are differentially expressed in eutopic endometrium of induced endometriosis in Papio anubis for early detection of endometriosis. Female adult baboons (n = 3) were induced with endometriosis by intraperitoneal inoculation of autologous menstrual endometrium. We sequenced small RNA samples obtained from normal (control) and diseased eutopic endometrium. Quality reads from the sequences were subjected to differential expression analysis to identify dysregulated microRNAs and genes from other non-coding small RNA in the samples using a bioinformatics approach. Through in-silico analysis, gene targets of the dysregulated miRNA and their functions were determined. Our findings show significant high expression of seven microRNAs namely miR-199a-3p, miR-145-5p, miR-214-3p, miR-143-3p, miR-125b-5p, miR-199a-5p and miR-10b-5p. The study also reveals five microRNAs that were significantly down regulated and they include miR-29b-3p, miR-16-5p, miR-342-3p, miR-378a-3p and let-7g-5p. Seventeen genes from non-coding small RNAs were significantly dysregulated. The dysregulated microRNAs and genes play important roles in pathogenesis of endometriosis. Our findings indicate that specific miRNA signatures are associated with endometriosis, and the dysregulated miRNAs could constitute new and informative biomarkers for early diagnosis of endometriosis.