Endometrial gene expression differences in women with coronavirus disease 2019. Endometrial gene expression differences in women with coronavirus disease 2019

Objective: To study the potential effect of COVID-19 on the endometrium of affected symptomatic women. Design: Preliminary study of the endometrial transcriptomes in women with COVID-19 through RNA sequencing. Setting: Hospital and university laboratories. Subjects: Women with COVID-19 lacking SARS-CoV-2 infection in endometrial tissue. Intervention/Exposure: Endometrial biopsy collection. Main outcomes measures: Endometrial gene expression and functional analysis of patients with COVID-19 versus uninfected individuals. Results: COVID-19 systemic disease alters endometrial gene expression in 75% of women, with patients exhibiting a preponderance of 163 up-regulated (e.g., UTS2, IFI6, IFIH1, BNIP3) and 72 down-regulated genes (e.g., CPZ, CDH3, IRF4) (FDR 30%) were analyzed through RNA-seq to detect gene expression changes with an untargeted approach between both groups (COVID-19 and control). Finally, sequencing raw data were preprocessed, normalized, and functionally interpreted using bioinformatics procedures for reporting which genes and functions are altered in the endometrium due to the disease.