The Expression And Clinical Significance Of IncRNA AK124742 In Human Cumulus Cells

Backgroud and ObjectiveSingle-embryo transfers(SETs) is increasingly used in assisted reproductive technology(ART) in order to avoid multiple pregnancies, To improve the pregnancy chance per cycle when performing SET, more criteria to select the embryo with the highest implantation potential is important, and the fate of embryo is decided by the oocyte quality. To date, the only main tool for selecting embryos for transfer, visual noninvasive morphological assessment. However, these subjective morphological assessment cannot accurately reflect the embryo developmental competence. The close relationship between cumulus cells and oocyte indicates that analysis of cumulus gene expression is a objective and non-invasive method to aid embryo selection.Completion of Human Genome Project and flourishing of RNA scriptomic and proteomics have promoted the prosperous development of the RNomics, non-coding RNA has gradually got wide attention and recognition for it’s important role in people’s life process. Lnc RNA is a significant new class of transcript that is longer than 200 nucleotides, and do not encode any proteins. Lnc RNAs regulate gene expression mainly on three levels: epigenetic modification, transcription and post-transcription. Foreign literature showed that lnc RNA in human cumulus cells may contribute to the regulation of oocyte maturation, fertilization and embryo development. In our previous study, AK124742 is a newly detected lnc RNA that was identified as being natural antisense to PSMD6, but its role in oocyte and embryo development is still not elucidated and need to be investigated.This study was to explore the expression patterns of lnc RNA AK124742 and m RNA PSMD6 in cumulus cells of patients undergoing in vitro fertilization and analyzed the correlation between gene expressions, to make clear their role in oocyte maturation and embryo development. Moreover, its predictive value of IVF-ET outcome is also discussed.MethodsCollected cumulus cells for research was obtained from 40 patients who started their first IVF cycle at the reproductive medicine center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. The expression of lnc RNA ENST00000502521 was measured in 40 pairs of cumulus cells from oocytes that resulting in high-quality embryo(group A) and from oocytes that resulting in poor-quality embryo(group B) by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR). Correlation between gene expressions was analyzed by using Pearson correlation coefficient. The predictive values of AK124742 and PSMD6 for predicting pregnancy outcome were evaluated through the construction of receiver operating characteristic curve, respectively.ResultsNotably elevated AK124742 and PSMD6 expression levels were observed in cumulus cells of group A compared to cumulus cells of group B(P < 0.01). Furthermore, the average relative expression level of AK124742 and PSMD6 in HCCs compared to PCCs were 3.05-fold and 2.85-fold, respectively. In particular, the expression of m RNA-PSMD6 was positively correlated with that of lnc RNA-AK124742 in cumulus cells(R2 = 0.606, P < 0.01). The relative expression levels of AK124742 and PSMD6 in the pregnancy group were significantly higher than those in the non-pregnancy group(P < 0.01). The area under the ROC curve(AUC) of AK124742 was 0.78(95% confidence interval(CI): 0.64–0.93 and had a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 68.4 % to predict embryo developmental potential; The area under the ROC curve(AUC) of AK124742 was 0.88(95% CI: 0.78–0.98 and had a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 94.7% to predict embryo developmental potential.ConclusionAK124742 and PSMD6 expression levels in cumulus cells of group A were significantly higher compared with the cumulus cells of group B was statistically significant, may involved in oocyte maturation and embryo development. The expression of m RNA PSMD6 was positively correlated with that of lnc RNA AK124742 in cumulus cells, It indicates that AK124742 may positively regulate the expression of PSMD6 by some specific mechanisms, which needs further researches to be elucidated completely. Furthermore, the relative expression levels of AK124742 and PSMD6 in human cumulus cells may be considered as potential biomarkers to predict pregnancy outcome.