The role of LncRNAs in endometriosis

Background: Endometriosis is a complex, heterogeneous, chronic inflammatory condition impacting 176 million women worldwide. However, the etiology of endometriosis is still unclear. Recently, some research has suggested that the occurrence and development of endometriosis may be related to genetics. Long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs), longer than 200 nucleotides in length, are mRNA‑like transcripts and cannot be translated into proteins. This class of non-coding RNA, have been shown to be essential in many diseases, like infertility. Scientists found that ectopic endometrial cells taken from women with endometriosis showed elevated levels of lncRNA-H19, with expression levels correlating to disease progression. Knockdown of H19 in ectopic endometrial cells inhibited cell proliferation and invasion. Coinciding with this change was an increase in microRNA-124-3p (miR-124-3p) and a decrease in integrin beta-3 (ITGB3) levels. The addition of a miR-124-3p inhibitor mitigated this decrease in ITGB3. Up-regulation of miR-124-3p markedly suppressed ITGB3 expression by binding to the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR), while inhibition of miR-124-3p had the opposite effect. ITGB3 overexpression potently counteracted the effects of miR-124-3p mimics on ectopic endometrial cells. From these results, scientists found that in endometriosis both miR-124-3p and ITGB3 operate as downstream effector proteins in the H19-signaling pathway. Down-regulation of lncRNA-H19 could inhibit ectopic endometrial cell proliferation and invasion by modulating miR-124-3p and ITGB3. LncRNA MALAT1 showed upregulation in ectopic endometrial tissues. Transfection of MALAT1 siRNA suppressed its expression in endometrial cells, inhibited cell proliferation or invasion, enhanced caspase 3 activity, decreased NF-κB/iNOS or MMP-9 expression. also, LncRNA BANCR inhibitor can repress the development of ectopic endometrial tissues by inhibiting the generation of angiogenic factors in the EMs focus, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition on the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway. In conclusion, endometriosis is a heterogeneous disease that can be diagnosed and treated by using of markers such as LncRNAs.

کلیدواژه ها:

Endometriosis ، LncRNA