Expression Profiles of tRNA-Derived Fragments and their Potential Roles in Ovarian Endometriosis

Abstract

Aim: Transfer RNA-derived fragments have been reported to play a vital role in disease progression, but their role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis remains unknown. Materials & methods: Small RNA sequencing was conducted in three paired ovarian endometriomas and eutopic endometria. The data from 22 paired samples were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and bioinformatic analysis was performed to establish the roles of these fragments in endometriosis pathogenesis. Results: We identified 19 upregulated and five downregulated tRNA-derived fragments, of which tiRNA-5 was the most common. Gene Ontology and pathway analyses revealed that these molecules could have roles in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Conclusion: tRNA-derived fragments are dysregulated and could be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of ovarian endometriosis.

Keywords::

• AGO
• ectopic endometrium
• endometriosis
• eutopic endometrium
• noncoding RNAs
• small RNA sequencing
• tiRNAs
• transfer RNA-derived fragments
• tRFs
• tRNA

author-contributions

L Shen designed and performed the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the article. X Hong collected samples and performed RNA extraction and qPCR. W Zhou completed the sequencing and interpreted the experiment data. Y Zhang designed the experiments, analyzed the patient data and revised the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 81801426 to L Shen) and Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 2018JJ3855 to L Shen). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.com) for the English language review.

Ethical conduct of research

The study was approved and supervised by the Ethics Committees of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University. Informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 81801426 to L Shen) and Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 2018JJ3855 to L Shen). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.com) for the English language review.