miR-200b-3p overexpression and endometriosis

Posted May 24, 2022

A novel study conducted by the INCT Hormona team at the Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto (SP), investigated the relationship between the theory of retrograde menstruation, the presence of mesenchymal stem cells in menstrual blood, and changes in post-transcriptional regulatory molecules working as agents in the etiopathogenesis of endometriosis.

According to professor and researcher Dr. Juliana Meola, this topic has gained prominence in the scientific community, specifically in the context of endometriosis, because of the importance of menstruation in the pathogenesis of the disease and the multifunctional role of menstrual blood-derived stem cells in regenerative medicine as a noninvasive source for obtaining stem cells. “As far as we know, the imbalance of small regulatory molecules – called miRNAs – in menstrual blood-derived stem cells had not yet been identified in association with the development of endometriosis.”

Dr. Meola also states that the team was able to identify through literature search and computer analysis that four miRNAs (miR-143-3p, miR-100-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-200b-3p) are regulators of the EGR1, SNAI1, NR4A1, NR4A2, ID1, LAMC3, and FOSB genes and are involved in the pathways of apoptosis, angiogenesis, response to steroid hormones, migration, differentiation, and cell proliferation. “We also investigated the expression of these miRNAs using RT-qPCR, which is considered the gold standard technique, and found that miR-200b-3p is upregulated in menstrual blood-derived stem cells of women with endometriosis. This imbalance may play an important role in the development of the disease,” she explains.

The study questions whether overexpression of miR-200b-3p is associated with increased cell proliferation, stemness, and a marked mesenchymal-epithelial transition process in the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis. “We believe that a dysregulated miR-200b-3p may cause primary changes in these cells, favoring tissue implantation at the ectopic site,” Dr. Meola says. “This study paves the way for studies on the function of miR-200b-3p and menstrual blood-derived stem cells in the development of endometriosis and, in the future, as possible therapeutic targets,” she concludes.

The study “Overexpression of miR-200b-3p in Menstrual Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Endometriosis Women” can be read in full at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35075610/