miRNA expression profiles in endometriotic cyst stromal cells (ECSCs).

To identify the miRNAs which play a role in the development of endometriosis, we explored differentially expressed miRNAs between ECSCs (N=8) and normal endometrial stromal cells (NESCs, n=8) using miRNA microarray. The expression profiles in ECSCs and NESCs were obtained, then the miRNAs were filtered by signal intensity (20.0<, at least one out of 16 samples have values within range) and flags (at least 70% of cases have good flags). The differentially expressed miRNAs in ECSCs compared with NESCs were identified using volcano plot (Fold change >= 2.0, Mann-Whiteny U test p<0.05). The primary culture of ECSCs and NESCs (controls) were utilized. Total RNA was extracted from them, and miRNA microarray analysis was performed. The miRNAs differentially expressed between ECSCs and NESCs were identified, and aberrantly expressed miRNAs in ECSCs were defined as the endometriosis related miRNAs.