Epigenetic and transcriptomic profiling of granulosa cells and follicular fluid in patients with endometriosis

Endometriosis is the most common disease in the infertility clinic. The compromised oogenesis is the important pathology leading to infertility. Moreover, the impaired oogenesis suffered by patients with endometriosis further compromises the therapeutic outcome. In comparison with the infertile patients with pelvic factors, the patients with endometriosis usually harvest fewer and poorer oocytes during the ovarian stimulation cycle. We aim to take a comprehensive look at the global chromatin accessibility profiles of GCs from the patient with endometriosis, revealing its contribution to the mRNA expression changes in GCs and EVs and ultimately illustrating the cross-talk between GCs and oocytes. Besides that, we intend to discover new molecular markers to predict oocyte development potential. The chromatin accessibility profile of endometriosis GC is significantly altered, thus it could cause the disruption of GC transcriptome and its subsequent function.

子宫内膜异位症（Endometriosis）是不孕门诊中最为常见的疾病。卵子发生受损是导致不孕的重要病理机制。不仅如此，子宫内膜异位症患者所出现的卵子发生障碍，还会进一步恶化治疗结局。与存在盆腔因素的不孕患者相比，子宫内膜异位症患者在卵巢刺激周期中通常获取的卵母细胞数量更少、质量更差。本研究旨在全面解析子宫内膜异位症患者颗粒细胞（Granulosa Cells, GCs）的全基因组染色质可及性图谱，揭示其对颗粒细胞与细胞外囊泡（Extracellular Vesicles, EVs）中mRNA表达谱变化的调控作用，最终阐明颗粒细胞与卵母细胞之间的交叉对话机制。此外，本研究还拟发掘可预测卵母细胞发育潜能的新型分子标志物。子宫内膜异位症患者颗粒细胞的染色质可及性图谱存在显著改变，这可能会破坏颗粒细胞的转录组及其后续的生物学功能。