Intrauterine Bacterial Colonization and Endometrial MicroRNA-17-5p Levels in Association to Endometriosis: A Study in an Egyptian Population

We aimed to study the relation between both bacterial colonization of the uterine endometrium & endometrial miR-17-5p levels and endometriosis, and then to evaluate endometrial miR-17-5p as a biomarker of endometriosis. A comparative observational study was carried over 51 endometriosis patients and 51 controls admitted into Obstetrics and Gynecology department, Mansoura Faculty of Medicine. Endometrial tissue samples were collected and aimed for bacterial culture and identification of resulting organisms besides estimation of tissue levels of microRNA-17-5p by quantitative real time PCR. G. vaginalis, S. agalactiae, S. aureus, Mobiluncus and E. coli were associated with endometriosis. MicroRNA-17-5p was up-regulated in endometriosis patients (P value was <0.0001*). Its sensitivity and specificity were 90% and 76.5%. MiR-17-5p showed higher results in culture positive than negative cases. On studying the relation between the positivity of endometrial tissue culture and miR-17-5p and so endometriosis, P value was <0.0001*. We concluded that G. vaginalis, S. agalactiae, S. aureus, Mobiluncus and E. coli were associated with development of endometriosis. Endometrial miR-17-5p was elevated in association to positive detection of bacterial species. MiR-17-5p might be a bio- marker of endometriosis.Abbreviations CFU/ml: Colony Forming Unit per Milliliter; miR-17-5p: MicroRNA-17-5p; qRT PCR: Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction.