Expression and role of miR-20b-5p and miR-106a-5p in patients with endometriosis

Objective To explore the expression of miR-20b-5p, miR-106a-5p, PTEN mRNA and CCNE1 mRNA in normal endometria (N), eutopic endometria (Eu) and ectopic endometria (Ec), and investigate the role of miR-20b-5p, miR-106a-5p on proliferation and apoptosis of cells in endometriosis. Methods Thirty patients with endometriosis who underwent laparoscopic surgical procedures in our hospital from May 2017 to May 2018 were enrolled in our study. And another 30 patients underwent laparoscopic myomectomy were collected as the controls. The expression of miR-20b-5p, miR-106a-5p, PTEN mRNA, CCNE1 mRNA in Eu (n=30), Ec (n=37) and N (n=30) were detected by qRT-PCR, and the correlation between miR-20b-5p, miR-106a-5p and PTEN mRNA, CCNE1 mRNA was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results Compared to Eu, the levels of miR-20b-5p and miR-106a-5p were significantly lower in Ec (P＜ 0.001), and the expression level of PTEN mRNA increased (P＜ 0.001), while the level of CCNE1 decreased (P=0.005). Compared with N, the expression level of miR-20b-5p was higher in Eu (P=0.038), while the level of PTEN was lower (P=0.049), and there was no statistically significant difference in miR-106a-5p and CCNE1 (P＞ 0.05, respectively). The level of miR-20b-5p was negatively correlated with PTEN in Eu and Ec group (r=-0.63, P＜ 0.001; r=-0.42, P＜ 0.001). There was no correlation between miR-106a-5p and PTEN in both Eu and Ec group (r=-0.14, P=0.465; r=-0.25, P=0.14). Conclusion MiR-20b-5p may promote cell proliferation in endometriosis by regulating PTEN.