MicroRNA Expression Profiles Analysis in Sperm Reveals hsa-mir-191 is an Auspicious Omen of in Vitro Fertilization
Abstract Background: MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are a class of non-coding small RNAs, which play important roles in many physiological processes by regulating gene expression. Previously studies show that the expression level of total miRNAs increased during the progression of mouse embryonic development, and some miRNAs control the regulatory network in the development progression. However, there are few studies focused on effects of miRNA on the early human embryonic development. The relationship of between miRNAs and early human embryogenesis is still unknown. Results In this study, 102 male sperm samples that were treated with assisted reproductive technology but with normal sperm index were collected for small RNA sequencing, and the relationships between differentially expressed small RNA and fertilization rate, blastocyst rate and high-quality embryo rate were analyzed. The results showed that the sperm samples with high expression of hsa-mir-191 had higher fertilization rate, blastocyst rate and high-quality embryo rate. Using hsa-mir-191 as a single indicator to predict high-quality embryo rate, the ROC curve has an AUC of 0.686. At the same time, we also found that the expression of hsa-mir-191 has a certain correlation with sperm abnormality rate (cor = 0.29, p< 0.01). In addition, we also evaluated the relationship between hsa-mir-34c and human early embryo development in these 102 sperm samples, and obtained negative results. Conclusions These findings suggest that higher hsa-mir-191-5p expression with better human early embryonic development, and indicate that the hsa-mir-191-5p could be a potential marker to access the quality of IVF.