Project description:Endometrial receptivity is imperative to achieving pregnancy in humans. A disruption in the development of endometrial receptivity is responsible for recurrent implantation failures (RIF) of endometrial origin. To further understand the molecular mechanisms behind the endometrial receptivity process, we used the 8-plex isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) method to compare and quantify the proteomes from endometrial biopsies of three different endometrial statuses (fertile women, IUD carriers and RIF patients). Overall, iTRAQ allowed to identify 1,889 non-redundant proteins. Of these, 188 were differentially expressed proteins (DEP) (p-value < 0.05) among the three endometrial groups. Pairwise comparisons revealed 133 significant DEP in fertile vs. IUD carriers and 158 DEP in RIF vs. IUD carriers. However, no DEP were identified between fertile and RIF patients. Western blot validation of three DEP involved in endometrial receptivity (Plastin 2, Lactotrasferrin, and Lysozyme) confirmed our iTRAQ results. Moreover, functional KEGG enrichment revealed that complement and coagulation cascades and peroxisome were the two most significant pathways for the RIF vs. IUD comparison and ribosome and spliceosome for the fertile vs. IUD comparison, as possible important pathways involved in the endometrial receptivity acquisition. Our findings confirm that an IUD introduces numerous changes in the endometrial protein profile when compared to fertile and RIF endometria, revealing some key proteins involved in endometrial receptivity. The lack of DEP between fertile and RIF patient endometria suggest either that idiopathic RIF may not have an endometrial origin, with other as-yet-unknown factors involved.
Project description:Alterations in the presence of sperm RNAs have been identified using microarrays in teratozoospermic (abnormal morphology) or other types of infertile patients. However, so far no studies had been reported on the sperm RNA content using microarrays in asthenozoospermic patients (low motility). We started the present project to with the goal to characterize the RNA expression in asthenozoospermic infertile patients as compared to normozoospermic fertile controls.
Project description:Alterations in the presence of sperm RNAs have been identified using microarrays in teratozoospermic (abnormal morphology) or other types of infertile patients. However, so far no studies had been reported on the sperm RNA content using microarrays in asthenozoospermic patients (low motility). We started the present project to with the goal to characterize the RNA expression in asthenozoospermic infertile patients as compared to normozoospermic fertile controls. We selected four normal fertile donors and four severe asthenozoospermic infertile patients. Equal amounts of RNA were extracted from the sperm samples, subjected to different quality controls and hybridized to the Affymetrix U133 Plus version 2 arrays.
Project description:The pathophysiology of post-infectious and idiopathic olfactory loss is still poorly delineated. Since proteins are key players in olfaction and technical advances including LC-MS/MS mass spectrometry give us the opportunity for detailed analysis of the nasal mucus proteome we aimed to undertake a comparative analysis of the olfactory cleft mucus proteome using mucus samples of the olfactory cleft in patients with idiopathic and postinfectious olfactory disorders versus healthy controls. The study was conceived as a pilot study and included 7 patients with idiopathic hyp- and anosmia, 7 patients with postinfectious hyp- and anosmia and 7 healthy controls. In total, 1117 different proteins were detected in at least 5 patients in at least one group. No significant different overall protein concentrations in patients compared to healthy controls (0.4614 µg/µL, SD=0.26273 vs. 0.5143 µg/µL, SD=3087; p=0.689) were found. Significant correlation regarding olfactory test results (TDI score) and protein concentrations (r=0.114, p=0.623) were either found. Results of this study did not show significant differences regarding the proteomic composition of the olfactory cleft mucus between patients suffering from postinfectious and idiopathic dysosmia versus healthy controls. Thus, central olfactory processing pathways may play a role in idiopathic and postinfectious olfactory disorders.
Project description:Idiopathic short stature is diagnosed by a standing height of less than two standard deviation scores in a specific population adjusted for age and gender and the exclusion of identifiable diseases. A series of studies have confirmed that noncoding RNAs can regulate the chondrocyte proliferation, hypertrophy, and endochondral ossification in the growth plate. In order to analyze and find differentially expressed circRNAs in Idiopathic short stature and healthy controls, we aimed to explore whether differentially expressed circRNAs in idiopathic short stature. Four pairs of blood samples were subjected to microarray analysis using the Arraystar Human CircRNAs Microarray v2 (Arraystar, USA). Compared to normal individuals, in ISS patients, the expression levels of 83 circRNAs were upregulated and those of 62 were downregulated.
Project description:Biomarker identification for diagnosis of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA), an auto-inflammatory disease that presents with prolonged fevers. Disease vs. healthy control
Project description:We used NGS of rna to understand transcriptome wide changes that occur in the left ventricles of pediatric idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients.