Identification of LINC01279 as a cell cycle-associated long non-coding RNA in endometriosis with GBA analysis

Endometriosis affects 6–10% of women of reproductive age. Though a significant amount of research has explored the pathogenesis of endometriosis, little is clear. Elucidating the mechanisms is urgently required for improving the therapeutic efficiency of endometriosis treatment. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently acquired extensive attention as regulatory components in a variety of biological processes and diseases. However, the functions of many lncRNAs in endometriosis are poorly understood. Therefore, the exploration of the dysregulated genes in endometriosis, particularly lncRNAs, is of importance. In the present study, datasets for endometriosis, including GSE7305, GSE7846, GSE29981 and E-MTAB-694, were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress. Then, the limma and Affy packages were used to analyze the CEL file. The RankProd method was used to conduct meta-analysis. Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1279 (LINC01279) was significantly upregulated in the three datasets, and was the most upregulated lncRNA as determined by the RankProd method. Gene set enrichment and Gene Ontology analyses were conducted, which revealed that LINC01279 is likely to function as a cell cycle mediator in endometriosis. Finally, it was identified that LINC01279 is strongly associated with certain previously identified key factors in the development of endometriosis, including cyclin-dependent kinase 14 and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12. Thus, it was demonstrated that LINC01279 may be associated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis. This may potentially represent a target in the therapy of endometriosis.