Identification of long non-coding RNAs BAT5, MALAT1, and UBOX5 in the peripheral blood leukocytes of women with endometriosis before surgery and at 1 month after surgery

Background Given the potential roles of long non-coding RNAs lncRNAs in endometriosis pathogenesis and inflammation, based on the existing literature, we aimed investigate expression of lncRNAs BAT5 , MALAT1 , and UBOX5 in the blood leukocytes of women with endometriosis before surgery and at 1 month after surgery. Methods and Results This prospective longitudinal cohort study included women with surgically confirmed endometriosis (n = 28),women without endometriosis (n = 27), and women with endometriosis who were followed up (n = 20).The relative expression levels oflncRNAs BAT5, MALAT1 ,and UBOX5 in blood samples from endometriosis patients were determined using real-time quantitative PCR and compared with those of the controls. Preoperative MALAT1 expression was significantly upregulated and UBOX5 e xpression was downregulated in the endometriosis group compared to the control group ( p  = 0.005,p = 0.029,respectively). There was a significant drop in MALAT1 expression levels at 1 month after surgery (16.77 ± 34.17) compared to the preoperative levels (44.33 ± 83.15)(p = 0.048).Moreover, we observed no significant difference in postoperative UBOX5 expression levels in the endometriosis group (28.17 ± 67.31) compared to both the control group (15.09 ± 36.29)and preoperative levels (13.92 ± 17.44),(p = 0.112;p = 0.594,respectively). Preoperative BAT5 expression levels were not significantly different in the endometriosis group (9.26 ± 16.02) compared to the controls (3.06 ± 4.28) ( p = 0.103).The area under the ROC curve of MALAT1 was 0.70, and CA-125 was UBOX5 0.66. A positive correlation was observed between preoperative BAT5 expression and CA 19 − 9 level (r = 0.422;p = 0.036). Conclusions This is the first study to reveal that the expression of circulating MALAT1 and UBOX5 may contribute to thepathogenesis of endometriosis, potentially through involvement in inflammation. MALAT1 may serve as a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and monitoring of endometriosis.