LncRNA H19 Overexpression in Endometriosis and its Utility as a Novel Biomarker for Predicting Recurrence

Endometriosis has a high recurrence rate after treatment, and there are no effective recurrence predictors. LncRNA H19 has been found to be a predictor of the poor prognosis of multiple diseases. Here, we aimed to investigate the expression and clinical implications of lncRNAH19 in endometriosis and explore the clinical application value of lncRNAH19 for recurrence prediction. LncRNA H19 expression was evaluated in 104 ectopic and eutopic endometrial samples from patients with endometriosis and 50 control endometrial samples from patients without endometriosis. The association between lncRNA H19 expression and the clinical characteristics of endometriosis as well as its value as a potential predictor of recurrence were analyzed. LncRNA H19 expression in the ectopic and eutopic endometria of endometriosis patients was significantly higher than that in the normal endometrium. LncRNA H19 expression in the ectopic endometrium was associated with infertility, recurrence, bilateral ovarian lesions, an increased CA125 level, and revised American Fertility Society (rAFS) stage. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age less than 40 years and lncRNA H19 overexpression in the ectopic endometrium were independent prognostic factors of endometriosis recurrence, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that the sensitivity and specificity for predicting recurrence were 90.9% and 61.0%, respectively, when the lncRNA H19 expression level in the ectopic endometrium was higher than 0.0277. LncRNA H19 may be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis especially in the mechanism of recurrence and is a novel potential predictor of the recurrence of endometriosis.