The differential expression of microRNA-143,145 in endometriosis

Recent studies showed that inappropriate expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is strongly associated with tumor-related processes in humans (2-9,11-17).

To understand the changes of miRNAs in endometriosis.

With real-time RT-PCR, we investigated the miR-143 and miR-145 expression in eutopic (EU, n=2) and ectopic endometrium (EC, n=11) (from women with endometriosis) (as well as EU+EC, n=11), along with the normal endometrium (EN, n=22) (from women without endometriosis, but with leiomyoma).

We did not find that the expression of miR-143 and/or miR-145 in EN or EC changed with menstrual cycle. But our results showed the miR-143 was up-regulated in EC (p=0.000) compared to EN. The miR-143 was also up-regulated in EU, but the difference did not reach statistically significance (p=0.053). Compared to EU, the expression of miR-143 in EC was up-regulated (p=0.016). MiR-145 had the similar characteristic to miR-143. The miR-145 was up-regulated in both EU (p=0.004) and EC (p=0.000) in compared to EN group. When compared with EU, the miR-145 in EC was up-regulated (p=0.008).

In conclusion, the miR-143 and miR-145 may play a certain role in the development and progression of endometriosis.