LINC01018 and SMIM25 sponged miR-182-5p in endometriosis revealed by the ceRNA network construction

The current study intended to explore the interaction of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) under the background of competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network in endometriosis (EMs). The differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRs), differentially expressed lncRNA (DELs), and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between EMs ectopic (EC) and eutopic (EU) endometrium based on three RNA-sequencing datasets (GSE105765, GSE121406, and GSE105764) were identified, which were used for the construction of ceRNA network. Then, DEGs in the ceRNA network were performed with Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. Besides, the DEmiRs in the ceRNA network were validated in GSE124010. And the target DELs and DEGs of verified DEmiRs were validated in GSE86534. The correlation of verified DEmiRs, DEGs, and DELs was explored. Moreover, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was applied to investigate the function of verified DEmiRs, DEGs, and DELs. Overall, 1352 DEGs and 595 DELs from GSE105764, along with 27 overlapped DEmiRs between GSE105765 and GSE121406, were obtained. Subsequently, a ceRNA network, including 11 upregulated and 16 downregulated DEmiRs, 7 upregulated and 13 downregulated DELs, 48 upregulated and 46 downregulated DEGs, was constructed. The GO and KEGG pathway analysis showed that this ceRNA network probably was associated with inflammation-related pathways. Furthermore, hsa-miR-182-5p and its target DELs (LINC01018 and SMIM25) and DEGs (BNC2, CHL1, HMCN1, PRDM16) were successfully verified in the validation analysis. Besides, hsa-miR-182-5p was significantly negatively correlated with these target DELs and DEGs. The GSEA analysis implied that high expression of LINC01018, SMIM25, and CHL1, and low expression of hsa-miR-182-5p would activate inflammation-related pathways in endometriosis EU samples. LINC01018 and SMIM25 might sponge hsa-miR-182-5p to upregulate downstream genes such as CHL1 to promote the development of endometriosis.