Identification of MiR-223 Associated with Diagnosis in Ectopic Pregnancy

Abstract

Background

In this study, we conducted an integrated study of the diagnostic value of MiR-223 in ectopic pregnancy (EP).

Methods

We used GSE44731 downloaded from GEO and GEO2R to identify differentially expressed miRNA. The hub genes corresponding to the differential miRNA were then identified by using the Xiantao academic tool, GO (Gene Ontology), and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes). Afterward, we used the miEAA database to perform gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of differential miRNA, and used Xiantao academic tools again to conduct the ceRNA network based on the target genes. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction and lncRNA of hub miRNA target genes were then predicted by the starbase database. For validation, the villus tissue from intrauterine pregnancy and tubal pregnancy was collected and assayed by qPCR.

Results

In total 19 differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out, of which MiR-223 had a relatively clear diagnostic significance. Hub genes were enriched and analyzed by GO, KEGG, and GSEA, and the results showed that regulation of NF-κB and other signaling pathways are primarily enriched in ectopic pregnancy. We also obtained 215 key genes from PPI analysis. Our ceRNA analysis indicated that LRRC75A-AS1 and PITPNA-AS1 were associated with MiR-223, and the expression of MiR-223 in qPCR was significantly high in tubal pregnancy group.

Conclusion

We found that MiR-223 can be used in the diagnosis of EP. Our findings provide valuable information and direction for future research into novel targets for EP diagnosis.

Keywords:

• MiRNA-223
• tubal pregnancy
• disease marker
• biomarker
• GEO

Data Availability

The data sets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/Supplementary Material.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 20231172) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 82174417). I also appreciate AiMi Academic Services (www.aimieditor.com) for the English language editing and review services. The study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the ethics committee of First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (No. K-2021-093), and informed consent was obtained from all patients.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflict of interest.