Serum miR-17, IL-4, and IL-6 levels for diagnosis of endometriosis

Abstract

Clinical studies have exhibited microRNAs or cytokines could be used as new biomarkers in the diagnosis of endometriosis, respectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of serum miR-17, IL-4, and IL-6 as early diagnostic markers of endometriosis. One hundred forty patients aged 22 to 45 years were recruited, 80 patients with pathologically confirmed endometriosis were assigned to endometriosis group whereas the remaining 60 patients were in the control group. The blood samples were collected immediately before laparoscopy and analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR analysis. In patients with endometriosis, the level of miR-23b decreased significantly, the levels of IL-4 and IL-6 increased remarkably compared with that in patients without endometriosis. Correlation analysis revealed miR-17 levels were negatively correlated with IL-4 (r = -0.974, P < .05) and IL-6 (r = -0.944, P < .05). The ROC curve manifested joint of miR-17 and selected cytokines could improve the diagnostic power with an AUC of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75-0.96). In short, the present study characterizes the role of miR-17, IL-4, and IL-6 in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, suggesting the feasibility of using miR-17 and selected cytokines as a noninvasive diagnostic test for the detection of endometriosis.

Figure 1

Serum miR-17, IL-4, and IL-6 level in patients with endometriosis. miR-23b expression level in AMI and healthy controls. (A) Plasma level of miR-17 in endometriosis decreased significantly compared with control group. (B) Plasma level of IL-4 in endometriosis was significantly elevated compared with control group. (C) Plasma level of IL-6 in endometriosis was significantly elevated compared with control group.

Figure 2

miR-17 targets with 3′-UTR of IL4 receptors and IL-6 receptors. miR-17 targeted with 3′-UTR of IL-4 receptor and IL-6 receptor in different positions closely. The 3′-UTR binding sites can be seen in (A) and (B). Correlation analysis revealed that miR-17 levels were negatively correlated with IL-4 (r = −0.974, P < .05; A) and IL-6 (r = −0.944, P < .05; B).

Figure 3

ROC curve analysis using serum miR-17 and selected cytokines for discriminating endometriosis. ROC curve analyses revealed that the plasma levels of miR-17 was potential biomarker for diagnosis of endometriosis with AUC values of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.55–0.86). When the 3 parameters were combined by multiplication (miR-17 × IL-4, miR-17 × IL-6, and miR-17 × IL-4 × IL-6, respectively), the AUC values were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.68–0.87), 0.81 (95% CI: 0.71–0.91), and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75–0.96), respectively.