Study of gene expression in stem cells differentiated into endometriotic cells / Mazen Abdelrasheed Abdellateef ; Supervised Mohamed Amr Hussein Elnoury , Osama Mahmoud Azmy , Ahmed Zakeria

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - National Institute of Laser - Department of Laser Applications in Medical and Biological

Background: Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease, defined by the presence of endometrial-like-tissue outside the uterus and is associated with pelvic pain and increased infertility. Recently, it has been suggested that ectopic endometriotic lesions may originate by abnormal differentiation of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs), important epigenetic modulators, play an important role in the pathophysiology of endometriosis. Aim: to study of the miRNA expression in stem cells that differentiated into endometrial like cells after their stimulation by endometriosis inducing factor(s), which supposed to be present in the blood of women affected with endometriosis. Methods: eMSCs were challenged with sera collected from patients with endometriosis and control women, conducting study and control culture sets. Regular microscopic follow-up for cell morphology was performed. PCR examination of the Annexin 1 gene in the cells was done to confirm or exclude the differentiation of these stem cells into endometrial like cells. SYBR Green-based real-time PCR array was used to assess the expression of 84 miRNAs which are well-annotated in the miRBase database. Results: Transformation of MSCs into endometrial like cells in the study group was suggested on both morphological and molecular bases. 22 differentially expressed miRNAs were found significant between the study and control groups. Conclusion: Challenging human eMSCs with the sera of endometriosis cases may affect the expression of certain miRNAs and their target genes. This may result in altering cell functions and consequently, endometriosis development

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