BackgroundThe role that nc886, a non-coding microRNA, plays in human endometrial cancer is unknown. The present study aimed to describe the functional role of nc886 in human endometrial cancer-1A (HEC-1A) cell line, which may provide another target for human endometrial cancer treatment.Material/MethodsThe expression levels of nv886 in normal human endometrial tissue and the early phase and late phase of human endometrial cancer tissues were determined and compared by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Small interference RNA (siRNA) was used to inhibit nc886, and cell proliferation was evaluated with the MTT test. mRNA levels of PKR, NF-κB, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and caspase-3 were determined against glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH between the HEC-1A control group and the silenced group (nc886 silenced with siRNA) by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The protein levels of PKR (total and phosphorylated form), NF-κB, VEGF, and caspase-3 were determined against GAPDH by Western blotting, and cell apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry.ResultsOur results indicated that a higher level of nc886 was expressed in the late phase of human endometrial cancer tissue, less than in the early phase but still higher than in normal human endometrial tissue. After nc886 was silenced, protein levels of p-PKR (phosphorylated PKR) and caspase-3 were increased, whereas NF-κB and VEGF were decreased.ConclusionsThe rate of apoptosis in the silenced group was increased and the rate of cell proliferation was slower in comparison to the control.
Existing evidence suggests that adverse pregnancy outcomes are closely related with dietary factors. Previous studies in mice have focused on the harm of folate deficiency (FD) on development of embryo, while the effect of low maternal folate levels on maternal intrauterine environment during early pregnancy remains unclear. Since our previous study found that FD treatment of mice causes no apparent defects in embryo implantation but is accompanied by female subfertility, we next chose to investigate a potential role of FD on molecular events after implantation. We observed that the decidual bulges began to be stunted on pregnancy day 6. The results of functional experiments in vivo and in vitro showed that FD inhibited the process of endometrial decidualization. It has been confirmed that DNA methylation participates in decidualization, and folate as a methyl donor could change the methylation patterns of genes. Thus, we hypothesized that FD impairs maternal endometrial decidualization by altering the methylation profiles of related genes. Reduced representation bisulphite sequencing was carried out to detect the methylation profiles of endometrium on pregnancy day 6-8, which is equivalent to the decidualization period in mice. The results confirmed that FD changes the methylation patterns of genome, and GO analysis of the differentially methylated regions revealed that the associated genes mainly participate in biological adhesion, biological regulation, cell proliferation, development, metabolism and signalling. In addition, we found some candidates for regulators of decidual transformation, such as Nr1h3 and Nr5a1. The data indicate that FD inhibits decidualization, possibly by altering methylation patterns of the genome in mice.
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