Endometriotic lesions express microRNAs that potentially regulate the transcription of hydroxysteroid 17-beta dehydrogenase 2 (HSD17B2): a pilot study - 11/09/24

Doi : 10.1016/j.jeud.2024.100093

Larissa M. Coutinho ^a,^b, Caterina Bernacchioni ^c, Maíra Casalechi ^a, Silvia Vannuccin ^c, Antonio M.C. Francisco ^d, Felice Petraglia ^c, Fernando M. Reis ^a,⁎
^a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
^b Department of Maternal and Child Health, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
^c Department of Clinical Experimental and Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
^d Maternal and Child Department, Universidade do Vale do Sapucaí, Pouso Alegre, Brazil

^⁎Corresponding author.

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Highlights

•	Endometriosis is fueled by local estradiol accumulation that might be due to deficient HSD17B2 activity.
•	The microRNAs miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p target the HSD17B2 gene.
•	This study measured miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p in endometriotic lesions.
•	Levels were not higher (tended to lower) in the lesions compared to eutopic endometrium.
•	The regulation of HSD17B2 expression in endometriosis may be more complex than firstly assumed.

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Abstract

Objective

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent disease. A theory of deficient HSD17B2 activity in endometriotic lesions leading to high local levels of estradiol has been described as a potential molecular mechanism for the disease progression. However, HSD17B2 mRNA is normally expressed in endometriotic tissue, leading us to question whether an excess of microRNAS (miRNAs) could be involved in post-transcriptional silencing of HSD17B2.

Methods

This was a prospective, cross-sectional, pilot study. The study included seven samples of superficial peritoneal endometriosis and 22 samples of eutopic endometrium from 22 reproductive-aged patients submitted to laparoscopy for symptomatic endometriosis. We searched in an experimentally validated microRNA-target interaction online database (miRTarBase) for miRNAs that target the HSD17B2 gene and performed RT-PCR to evaluate their expression in endometriotic lesions and eutopic endometrium.

Results

We found two miRNAs on the miRTarBase search that interact with HSD17B2: miR-124-3p and miR-26b-5p. RT-PCR analysis showed that both miRNAs were expressed in ectopic tissues as well as in eutopic endometrium. Quantitatively, no significant difference existed between the two tissue groups in either miR-26b-5p (p = 0.08) or miR-124-3p (p = 0.09) expression levels, although the observed trend was towards lower levels of both miRNAs in the endometriotic lesions.

Conclusions

The expression of miRNAs miR-26b-5p and miR-124-3p is not increased in peritoneal endometriosis compared to eutopic endometrium. The regulation of HSD17B2 expression may be more complex than assumed, and it must be further investigated in different clinical scenarios.

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Keywords : 17beta-HSD type 2, human, endometriosis, endometrium, estrogen.