Endometriosis, as a prevalent gynecological disease, is characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, causing infertility and considerable pain and affecting the quality of life of women. The pathogenic mechanism has not been fully elucidated, and there are no effective biomarkers for endometriosis. In our study, microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling of 10 ectopic endometrial plasma from patients with ovarian endometriosis and 10 normal plasma from healthy controls was analyzed using a microarray. As a result, 114 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. Among them, 14 miRNAs were significantly downregulated in patients with ovarian endometriosis, which matched the microarray results. The diagnostic value of the 14 downregulated miRNAs in ovarian endometriosis was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and hsa-let-7i-5p showed the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) with a value of 0.900. The target genes of the 14 miRNAs were predicted by miRWalk2.0, and the genes that were targeted by at least 2 of the 14 miRNAs were analyzed by function enrichment. The target genes were significantly enriched in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, such as microRNAs in cancer, bladder cancer, and endocrine resistance pathways, and the Gene Ontology (GO) terms such as nucleobase-containing compound metabolic process, cellular nitrogen compound biosynthetic process, and heterocycle metabolic process. The identified 14 differentially expressed miRNAs could be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.
Keywords: Biomarkers; Differentially expressed miRNAs; Ovarian endometriosis; Therapeutic targets.