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. 2022 Sep;156(3):516-523.
doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_288_20.

Role of serum microRNAs as biomarkers for endometriosis, endometrioid carcinoma of ovary & endometrioid endometrial cancer

Priti Kumari  1 , Indu Sharma  1 , Subhas Chandra Saha  2 , Radhika Srinivasan  3 , Puneet Bhardwaj  1
Affiliations

Role of serum microRNAs as biomarkers for endometriosis, endometrioid carcinoma of ovary & endometrioid endometrial cancer

Priti Kumari et al. Indian J Med Res. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Background & objectives: Accurate and early diagnosis is imperial in the management of endometriosis, endometrioid carcinoma of ovary (ECO) and endometrioid endometrial cancer (EC), yet there are no definitive diagnostic methods available for these diseases. Therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic potential of differentially expressed miRNAs in serum samples of women with endometriosis, ECO and EC to establish them as diagnostic biomarkers.

Methods: Blood samples (5 ml) were obtained from 40 patients (n=10/study group) undergoing laparoscopy/laparotomy/hysterectomy. miRNA-rich RNA was extracted from the serum samples, and quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR was performed to check the expression levels of miR-16, miR-99b, miR-20a, miR-145, miR-143 and miR-125a in all the samples. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done to check the diagnostic potential.

Results: In endometriosis, miR-16 was downregulated (P<0.05) whereas miR-99b, miR-125a, miR-143 and miR-145 were upregulated (P<0.05). In ECO group, downregulated expression of miR-16 and miR-125a (P<0.05) was observed, whereas miR-99b, miR-143 and miR-145 were upregulated (P<0.05). In endometrioid EC, miR-16, miR-99b, miR-125 and miR-145 were downregulated (P<0.05), whereas miR-143 was upregulated (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that, for endometriosis, miR-99b, miR-125a, miR-143 and miR-145 served as diagnostic markers. miR-145 showed diagnostic power for ECO, and for endometrioid EC, miR-16, miR-99b, miR-125a and miR-145 showed diagnostic potential.

Interpretation & conclusions: The present findings suggested that certain circulating miRNAs (miB99b, miR-16, miR-125a, miR-145) might act as indicators and discriminators of endometriosis and endometrioid subtypes of EC and ovarian cancer and might serve as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and management of these debilitating diseases.

Keywords: Endometrioid carcinoma of ovary; endometrioid endometrial cancer; endometriosis; miRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Relative expression levels of serum miRNAs in women with ED, endometrioid EC and ECO as compared to control group. (A) miR-16, (B) miR-20a, (C) miR-99b, (D) miR-125a, (E) miR-143 and (F) miR-145. ED, endometriosis; EC, endometrial cancer; ECO, endometrioid carcinoma of ovary. Note: Data are represented as box plots. Here, the boxes represent the 25th and 75th percentiles, and a solid line within the box showing median value.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
ROC curves of different miRNAs in the serum of women with ED, endometrioid EC and ECO. (A) For endometriosis, miR-99b, miR-125a, miR-143 and miR-145 showed the highest AUC values of 0.777, 0.927, 0.837 and 0.817, respectively. (B) For endometrioid endometrial cancer, miR-16, miR-99b, miR-125a and miR-145 give the highest AUC values of 0.850, 0.830, 0.900 and 0.957, respectively. (C) For endometrioid ovarian cancer, miR-145 gives the highest AUC of 0.790. ED, endometriosis; EC, endometrial cancer; ECO, endometrioid carcinoma of ovary; ROC, Receiver operating characteristics; AUC, area under the curve
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