Expression of microRNA in follicular fluid in women with and without PCOS

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 16306 - 9
• Main Authors: Butler, Alexandra E., Ramachandran, Vimal, Hayat, Shahina, Dargham, Soha R., Cunningham, Thomas Keith, Benurwar, Manasi, Sathyapalan, Thozhukat, Najafi-Shoushtari, S. Hani, Atkin, Stephen L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.11.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/443/494; 631/443/494/2732; Adult; Biomarkers; C-reactive protein; Case-Control Studies; Circulating MicroRNA; Computational Biology; Female; Follicular fluid; Follicular Fluid - metabolism; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Regulatory Networks; Health risk assessment; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; In vitro fertilization; Inflammatory diseases; Insulin; Insulin resistance; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Oocyte Retrieval; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - genetics; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - metabolism; Polymerase chain reaction; Prospective Studies; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52856-5

Several studies have shown the expression of small non-coding microRNA (miRNA) changes in PCOS and their expression in follicular fluid has been described, though the number of studies remains small. In this prospective cohort study, miRNA were measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 29 weight and aged matched anovulatory women with PCOS and 30 women without from follicular fluid taken at the time of oocyte retrieval who were undergoing in vitro fertilization ( IVF); miRNA levels were determined from a miRNA data set. 176 miRNA were detected, of which 29 differed significantly between normal women and PCOS women. Of these, the top 7 (p < 0.015) were miR-381-3p, miR-199b-5p, miR-93-3p, miR-361-3p, miR-127-3p, miR-382-5p, miR-425-3p. In PCOS, miR-382-5p correlated with age and free androgen index (FAI), miR-199b-5p correlated with anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) and miR-93-3p correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP). In normal controls, miR-127-3p, miR-382-5p and miR-425-3p correlated with the fertilisation rate; miR-127-3p correlated with insulin resistance and miR-381-3p correlated with FAI. Ingenuity pathway assessment revealed that 12 of the significantly altered miRNA related to reproductive pathways, 12 miRNA related to the inflammatory disease pathway and 6 were implicated in benign pelvic disease. MiRNAs differed in the follicular fluid between PCOS and normal control women, correlating with age, FAI, inflammation and AMH in PCOS, and with BMI, fertilization rate (3 miRNA), insulin resistance, FAI and inflammation in control women, according to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis.