Bioinformatics-Based Systematic Review on Genes and Micro-RNAs Involving Endometriosis

Background: Susceptibility to endometriosis depends on complex interactions of immunologic, hormonal, environmental and genetic factors. Multiple genes and regulatory non-coding microRNAs have been discovered to produce a susceptibility to developing endometriosis. The present study aimed to assess the microRNAs, the gene targets for microRNAs and their interactions aided by bioinformatics network.METHODS: A thorough literature search was performed in Medline, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus databases using the following terms in every possible combination: endometriosis , gene , and miRNA . To assess the mature sequence of miRNAs and also their chromosomal positions, miRPathDB software was employed. To determine the main target gene predicted for each considered miRNAs, the TargetScanS Web server was applied. The interaction of each gene with other genes associated with endometrial-related ovarian cancer was determined by GeneMANIA software. Finally, to design integrated model of miRNAs-targeted genes interaction network, the Cytoscape software was used.Results: Reviewing the literature revealed 44 microRNAs (28 miRNAs up-regulated and 16 miRNAs down-regulated) involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The pointed miRNAs target 29 genes associated with endometrioma tissue that the critical role of 6 genes including HOXA10, VEGFA, PTEN, ARID1A, FSHR, and KRAS are potentially highlighted. Assessing the gene to gene interactions related to these 6 genes revealed that the prominent genes interaction included co-expression of the genes in about 85.3% of the cluster. The main pathways which activated in the background of this cluster include multicellular organism production, multicellular organismal reproductive process, regulation of cell projection organization, developmental growth involved in morphogenesis, and ovarian follicle development.Conclusion: Among all miRNAs and related targeted genes which may be regulate processes leading endometriosis, the role of HOXA10, VEGFA, PTEN, ARID1A, FSHR, and KRAS genes and their regulatory miRNAs are fundamental.