Project description:BackgroundAlterations in endometrial DNA methylation profile have been proposed as one potential mechanism initiating the development of endometriosis. However, the normal endometrial methylome is influenced by the cyclic hormonal changes, and the menstrual cycle phase-dependent epigenetic signature should be considered when studying endometrial disorders. So far, no studies have been performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle influences and endometriosis-specific endometrial methylation pattern at the same time.ResultsInfinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays were used to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases from 31 patients with endometriosis and 24 healthy women. The DNA methylation profile of patients and controls was highly similar and only 28 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between patients and controls were found. However, the overall magnitude of the methylation differences between patients and controls was rather small (?? ranging from -0.01 to -0.16 and from 0.01 to 0.08, respectively, for hypo- and hypermethylated CpGs). Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the methylation data divided endometrial samples based on the menstrual cycle phase rather than diseased/non-diseased status. Further analysis revealed a number of menstrual cycle phase-specific epigenetic changes with largest changes occurring during the late-secretory and menstrual phases when substantial rearrangements of endometrial tissue take place. Comparison of cycle phase- and endometriosis-specific methylation profile changes revealed that 13 out of 28 endometriosis-specific DMRs were present in both datasets.ConclusionsThe results of our study accentuate the importance of considering normal cyclic epigenetic changes in studies investigating endometrium-related disease-specific methylation patterns.
Project description:Alterations in endometrial DNA methylation profile have been proposed as one potential mechanism initiating the development of endometriosis. However, the normal endometrial methylome is influenced by the cyclic hormonal changes and the menstrual cycle phase-dependent epigenetic signature should be considered when studying endometrial disorders. So far, no studies have been performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle influences and endometriosis-specific endometrial methylation pattern at the same time. Therefore, we used Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases.
Project description:Alterations in endometrial DNA methylation profile have been proposed as one potential mechanism initiating the development of endometriosis. However, the normal endometrial methylome is influenced by the cyclic hormonal changes and the menstrual cycle phase-dependent epigenetic signature should be considered when studying endometrial disorders. So far, no studies have been performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle influences and endometriosis-specific endometrial methylation pattern at the same time. Therefore, we used Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases.
Project description:Alterations in endometrial DNA methylation profile have been proposed as one potential mechanism initiating the development of endometriosis. However, the normal endometrial methylome is influenced by the cyclic hormonal changes and the menstrual cycle phase-dependent epigenetic signature should be considered when studying endometrial disorders. So far, no studies have been performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle influences and endometriosis-specific endometrial methylation pattern at the same time. Therefore, we used Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases. Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays were used to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from mid secretory cycle phase from 17 patients without endometriosis
Project description:Alterations in endometrial DNA methylation profile have been proposed as one potential mechanism initiating the development of endometriosis. However, the normal endometrial methylome is influenced by the cyclic hormonal changes and the menstrual cycle phase-dependent epigenetic signature should be considered when studying endometrial disorders. So far, no studies have been performed to evaluate the menstrual cycle influences and endometriosis-specific endometrial methylation pattern at the same time. Therefore, we used Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases. Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip arrays were used to explore DNA methylation profiles of endometrial tissues from various menstrual cycle phases from 24 patients with endometriosis
Project description:Endometriosis is a debilitating gynecological disorder affecting approximately 10% of the female population. Despite its prevalence, robust methods to classify and treat endometriosis remain elusive. Changes throughout the menstrual cycle in tissue size, architecture, cellular composition, and individual cell phenotypes make it extraordinarily challenging to identify markers or cell types associated with uterine pathologies since disease-state alterations in gene and protein expression are convoluted with cycle phase variations. Here, we developed an integrated workflow to generate both proteomic and single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data sets using tissues and cells isolated from the uteri of control and endometriotic donors. Using a linear mixed effect model (LMM), we identified proteins associated with cycle stage and disease, revealing a set of genes that drive separation across these two biological variables. Further, we analyzed our scRNA-seq data to identify cell types expressing cycle and disease- associated genes identified in our proteomic data. A module scoring approach was used to identify cell types driving the enrichment of certain biological pathways, revealing several pathways of interest across different cell subpopulations. Finally, we identified ligand-receptor pairs including Axl/Tyro3 – Gas6, that may modulate interactions between endometrial macrophages and/or endometrial stromal/epithelial cells. Analysis of these signaling pathways in an independent cohort of endometrial biopsies revealed a significant decrease in Tyro3 expression in patients with endometriosis compared to controls, both transcriptionally and through histological staining. This measured decrease in Tryo3 in patients with disease could serve as a novel diagnostic biomarker or treatment avenue for patients with endometriosis. Taken together, this integrated approach provides a framework for integrating LMMs, proteomic and RNA-seq data to deconvolve the complexities of complex uterine diseases and identify novel genes and pathways underlying endometriosis.