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Differential expression of follicular fluid exosomal microRNA in women with diminished ovarian reserve

  • Reproductive physiology and disease
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Decreased ovarian reserve function is mainly characterized by female endocrine disorders and fertility decline. Follicular fluid (FF) exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to regulate the function of granulosa cells (GCs). The present study explored differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) in patients with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR).

Methods

FF was collected from 12 DOR patients and 12 healthy controls. DEmiRNAs between the two groups were identified and analyzed using high-throughput sequencing technology and validated by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR).

Results

A total of 592 DEmiRNAs were identified using high-throughput miRNA sequencing, of which 213 were significantly upregulated and 379 were significantly downregulated. The sequencing results were further validated by RT-qPCR. These DEmiRNA target genes were mainly involved in the cancer pathway, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway, regulation of actin cytoskeleton signaling pathway, and biological processes related to protein binding, nucleoplasm, cytoplasm, and cell membrane.

Conclusion

FF exosomal miRNAs are significantly differentially expressed in DOR patients versus non-DOR patients, underscoring their crucial role in regulating the pathogenesis of DOR.

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Data Availability

Data will be made available to the editors of the journal for review or query upon request.

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Funding

We gratefully acknowledge all of the funding sources and all study participants. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 82074479; Special Foundation of Clinical Medicine of Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Science and Technology,Grant/Award Number: ZT202107.

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Author notes

  1. Ying Xie and Juan Chen have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Reproductive Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Ying Xie, Juan Chen, Kailu Liu, Jingyu Huang, Yaqiong Zeng, Mengya Gao, Yu Qian, Li Liu, Yong Tan & Xiaowei Nie

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  1. Ying Xie
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Contributions

Ying Xie and Juan Chen: investigation, writing—original draft; Kailu Liu, Jingyu Huang and Yaqiong Zeng: visualization, data curation; Mengya Gao, Yu Qian, Li Liu: validation analysis, Yong Tan and Xiaowei Nie: project administration, funding acquisition.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yong Tan or Xiaowei Nie.

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Ethics approval

The Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Ethics Committee examined and authorized this study (Approval No. 2022NL-200–03). This study was carried out in accordance with ethics committee permission and the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Xie, Y., Chen, J., Liu, K. et al. Differential expression of follicular fluid exosomal microRNA in women with diminished ovarian reserve. J Assist Reprod Genet 41, 1087–1096 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-024-03037-5

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