miR-31 and miR-145 as Potential Non-Invasive Regulatory Biomarkers in Patients with Endometriosis.

OBJECTIVES: Endometriosis is a prevalent gynecologic disease affecting 10% of women in reproductive age. Endometriosis is diagnosed by laparoscopy that was followed by histologic confirmation. Early diagnosis will lead to a more effective treatment with much less morbidity. As miR-31 and miR-145 are shown to be directly or indirectly correlated to biological processes involved in endometriosis, the aim of this study was to examine the association of miR-31 and miR-145 expression in plasma with the presence of endometriosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this case control study, the plasma samples of 55 patients with endometriosis and 23 women without endometriosis were collected, extracted and analyzed by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the expression of miR-145 and miR-31.

RESULTS: Our findings showed that miR-31 expression levels in stage 3 or 4 and stage 1 or 2 were significantly downregulated (less than 0.01-fold, P<0.05), while the expression level of miR-145 was significantly up-regulated in women with endometriosis in stage 1 or 2.

CONCLUSIONS: Different cellular biological processes, such as differentiation, proliferation, mitochondrial function, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, invasion and decidualization, are deregulated in endometriosis. miR-31 and miR-145 are microRNAs (miRNAs) with potential roles, as shown in pathologies like cancers. We found that miR- 31 was under-expressed in patients with endometriosis, while miR-145 was over-expressed in stage 1 or 2, indicating that they were relatively down-regulated in the more severe forms. Our findings suggested that these two miRNAs may be considered as potential biomarkers with probable implications in early diagnosis and even follow-up of patients with endometriosis.