Identification of clinical trait–related small RNA biomarkers with weighted gene co-expression network analysis for personalized medicine in endocervical adenocarcinoma

Endocervical adenocarcinoma (EAC) is an uncommon aggressive type of endocervical adenocarcinoma that is not associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). At present, molecular research on EAC mainly focuses on the genome and mRNA transcriptome, the investigation of small RNAs in EAC has not been fully described. Here, we systematically explored small RNAs in 14 different subtypes of EAC using small RNA sequencing. miRNAs and tRNA-derived RNAs (tDRs) accounted for the majority of mapped reads the total number of miRNAs and tDRs maintained a relative balance. To explore the correlations between small RNAs and EAC with different clinical characteristics, we performed the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and screened for hub small RNAs. From the key modules, we identified 9 small RNAs that were significantly related to clinical characteristics in EAC patients. Gene Ontology and pathway analyses revealed that these molecules could have roles in the pathogenesis of EAC. Our work provides new insight into EAC pathogenesis, and identify small RNAs as candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of EAC. Examination of samll RNA in endocervical adenocarcinoma.