E-Poster with pre-recorded video presentation Lorne Infection and Immunity 2021

Is there potential clinical significance of miR-323-3p in Chlamydia trachomatis-associated tubal ectopic pregnancy? (#286)

Astha Dimri 1 , Shipra Pant 1 , Renu Arora 2 , Fouzia Siraj 3 , Suhel Parvez 4 , Sangita Rastogi 1
  1. Molecular Microbiology laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Pathology, , Sriramachari Bhawan, Safdarjung hospital campus, Post Box no. 4909, NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
  2. Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, VMMC & Safdarjung hospital, NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
  3. ICMR-National Institute of Pathology, , Sriramachari Bhawan, Safdarjung hospital campus, Post Box no. 4909, NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
  4. Department of Medical Elementology and Toxicology, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, NEW DELHI, Delhi, India

Introduction:

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is associated with maternal morbidity/mortality. Diagnostic methods involving ultrasonography/hCG have poor clinical utility. There is no reliable diagnostic method till date. Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) is an important risk factor for tubal EP. MicroRNAs (miRs) are present in body fluid and have been reported to be involved in pregnancy regulation. miR, viz.: miR-323-3p is biomarker in immune/inflammatory responses; however, its role in EP is unclear and remains to be established in Ct-positive tubal EP. It was hypothesized that expression level of circulating miR-323-3p might provide non-invasive method for early diagnosis of Ct-associated tubal EP. Hence, aim of study was to quantify expression of pregnancy-associated miR, viz.: hsa-miR-323-3p in serum of tubal EP patients(Ct-infected versus non-infected controls).

Materials and Methods:

This was a cross-sectional study wherein, 30 tubal EP patients (first trimester; age 22-36 years), undergoing surgical treatment at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, VMMC and Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi, India were enrolled with ethics approval from hospital’s Ethical Committee. Fallopian tube (2x6 mm) and non-heparinized blood (serum) were collected from each enrolled patient. Ct detection was performed in FT by PCR usingprimers for MOMP (537 bp) and plasmid (200 bp) genes. Quantitative expression of serum hsa-miR-323-3p was done by real-time PCR by using commercial kit, miRNeasy serum/ plasma kit (Qiagen, USA) as per manufacturer’s guidelines. Statistical analysis was performed using Graphpad Prism software version 9.

Results:

Ct MOMP and plasmid were found in 4/30(13%) and 5/30(16%) respectively among tubal EP women. Expression of hsa-miR-323-3p was found to be altered and significantly upregulated (‘p’<0.05) in Ct-positive tubal EP women versus controls with fold-change of 3.1.

Conclusions:

Our study showed that hsa-miR-323-3p has potential to serve as possible clinical marker for screening such patients. However, detailed study with large number of cases is further required for use in clinical management.

 

 

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