Investigating RNA cargo in endometrial derived small extracellular vesicles in endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is a systemic benign disease that affects 10% of women, mostly of reproductive age and causes a wide range of symptoms including infertility and pelvic pain. Diagnosing and treating endometriosis is challenging and requires surgery. Furthermore, treatments of endometriosis are not permanent, and recurrence is common. Thus, there is a growing need for novel techniques of diagnosis and treatment. Organoids derived from endometrial tissue resemble the physiological tissue complexity and cell interactions found in vivo. Furthermore, organoids are cost effective and can be maintained in culture and or bio-banked indefinitely. Studies in the cancer field have demonstrated that organoids secrete EVs and play a role in cell-cell communication. Extracellular vesicles are nano-sized particles secreted from different cell types and carry specific cargo (RNA, DNA, protein) which is delivered to target cells. This in turn, helps regulate the phenotypic changes of the target cells. EVs specific cargo differs in disease vs health, and therefore have a role in promoting pathogenesis. The objectives of this project are to investigate EVs and EV cargo secreted from endometrial organoids derived from endometriosis eutopic and ectopic tissue compared to control (non-endometriosis eutopic endometrial tissue). In addition to investigating the miRNA cargo found in EVs secreted by ectopic and eutopic endometrial organoids of patients with and without endometriosis. The EV miRNA profiles will be isolated from the culture supernatant of endometrial eutopic and ectopic organoids derived from patients with and without endometriosis. Furthermore, the isolated miRNAs will be characterized using microarray analysis and qRT-PCR.