Evaluating changes in the expression of BCL-2 gene, lncRNA SRA, and miR-361-3p in unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.

Unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) composed almost half of all diagnosed miscarriage cases. As the apoptosis pathway is involved in the pregnancy process the present investigation aimed to assess the differential expression of the BCL-2 gene, SRA lncRNA, miR-361-3p in unexplained RPL patients. In this study, RNA was isolated from 50 blood samples of people with a history of RPL, and 50 blood samples of people with healthy fertility. After cDNA synthesis from these samples, alterations in the expression levels of the above-mentioned genes were examined by Real-Time PCR. Our results showed that the expression of BCL-2 and lncRNA SRA was significantly higher in the blood samples of RPL patients than in controls, while the expression of miR-361-3p was significantly downregulated. Besides, there were significant correlations between the changes in the expression of lncRNA SRA and miR-361-3p with BCL-2, in positive and negative directions, respectively. Also, miR-361-3p presented as a good diagnostic marker with the highest AUC value to discriminate between RPL and the healthy control subjects. These results proposed that ncRNAs may have a significant role in the regulation of apoptosis relates genes expression in RPL.

Aberrant expression of BAX, MEG3, and miR-214-3P genes in recurrent pregnancy loss.

AIMS: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), with unknown causes, is one of the most common challenges facing pregnancy. Apoptotic signaling pathways are involved in the normal and abnormal pregnancy process. Despite the evidence pointing toward the aberrant expression of apoptotic and apoptotic-related genes in pregnancy complications, the involvement of these genes in RPL remains to be elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of BAX, MEG3, and miR-214-3p (as a microRNA), and their associations in an Iranian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following the extraction of RNA from blood samples of RPL patients and controls, quantitative expression levels of BAX, MEG3, and miR-214-3p genes were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: The findings showed that the expression levels of BAX and miRNA-214-3p were significantly higher in the blood samples of RPL patients than in control samples. In contrast, the expression of MEG3 was significantly down-regulated in women RPL. Furthermore, altered expressions of MEG3 and miRNA-214-3p are associated with their target gene BAX, where the BAX expression is positively and negatively correlated with the expressions of has-miR-214-3P and MEG3, respectively. ROC curve evaluation demonstrated the highest specificity and diagnostic value for miR-214-3p expression in distinguishing RPL samples from the healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicated that the aberrant expression of BAX, MEG3, miRNA-214-3p genes in RPL patients could provide new insights into the biological characteristics and related pathways of differentially expressed genes, which could help as potential diagnostic biomarkers and a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of RPL.