Downregulation of lncrna uca1 as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for ovarian endometriosis

Abstract

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Ovarian endometriosis seriously affects the quality of life of females, and long non-coding RNA lncRNA urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) plays pivotal roles in the pathogenesis of various ovarian diseases. However, the involvement of lncRNA UCA1 in ovarian endometriosis remains unknown to date. Therefore, the present study aims to study the role of UCA1 in ovarian endometriosis. METHODS: A total of 98 patients with ovarian endometriosis and 28 healthy females were included. The expression of lncRNA UCA1 in ectopic and eutopic endometrium tissues of ovarian endometriosis patients and controls was detected using qRT-PCR. A ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic values of serum lncRNA UCA1 for ovarian endometriosis. Patients were followed up for 2 years after discharge, and the recurrence of ovarian endometriosis was recorded. RESULTS: The expression level of lncRNA UCA1 was significantly higher in ectopic endometrium tissues than in paired eutopic endometrium tissues for most of the patients. The serum lncRNA UCA1 level showed no significant correlations with either patients’ age or living habits. After the treatment, the serum lncRNA UCA1 level increased, and serum levels of lncRNA UCA1 on the day of discharge were significantly lower in patients with recurrence than those in patients without recurrence. Conclusion: The downregulation of lncRNA UCA1 is involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian endometriosis and may serve as a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for the disease.

Role of Non-coding RNAs in the Pathogenesis of Endometriosis

“…Notably, serum levels of UCA1 on the day of discharge were remarkably lower in patients with recurrence compared with patients without recurrence. Based on these results, authors concluded that UCA1 participates in the pathogenesis of ovarian endometriosis and may be a putative diagnostic and prognostic marker for this condition (76). Tables 5, 6 show up-and down-regulated lncRNAs in the endometriotic samples, respectively.…”

“…However, another study has reported downregulation of miR-451 in the eutopic endometrial tissues of patients with endometriosis compared with control tissues ( 53 ). The lncRNA UCA1 has been reported to be up-regulated in ectopic endometrium tissues compared with paired eutopic endometrium tissues in the majority of patients using qRT-PCR ( 76 ). On the other hand, a microarray analysis showed down-regulated of this lncRNA in ovarian ectopic endometrial tissue compared with paired eutopic endometrial tissue ( 75 ).…”

LncRNA AFAP1‐AS1 regulates proliferation and apoptosis of endometriosis through activating STAT3/TGF‐β/Smad signaling via miR‐424‐5p

“…LncRNAs also exert a regulatory effect on the pathogenesis process of endometriosis. For example, the lncRNA UCA1 and lncRNA CCDC144NL‐AS1 were involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian endometriosis, whereas lncRNA MALAT1 was showed upregulation in ectopic endometrial tissues 8–10 . These researches indicated the regulatory role of lncRNAs in endometriosis.…”

Exploring the Potential Key IncRNAs with Endometriosis by Construction of a ceRNA Network

“…[4][5][6][7] Many researchers have discovered that lncRNA may play an important role in regulated genes expression and the progression of endometriosis. [8][9][10] Huang et al reported that lncRNA UCA1 was downregulated in endometriosis, 9 and Zhu et al showed an effect of lncRNA BANCR on endometriosis through the ERK/MAPK pathway. 11 Therefore, more attention should be paid to lncRNAs in the study of progression of endometriosis.…”