MicroRNA-342 Promotes the Malignant-Like Phenotype ofEndometrial Stromal Cells via Regulation of Annexin A2

The relevance of miRNA- (miR-) 342 to endometriosis has been highlighted, while its function in regulating the malignant-likephenotype of endometrial stromal cells which demonstrate epigenetic abnormalities that alter expression of transcriptionfactors, remains unclear. Therefore, we sought to characterize the effects of miR-342 in endometrial stromal cell proliferation byregulating Annexin A2 (ANXA2). Wefirst characterized the levels of miR-342 and ANXA2 in 31 cases of normal endometriumfrom patients with grade II-III cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or patients with hysterectomy versus ectopic endometrial tissuesof 42 patients with endometriosis. miR-342 was upregulated, while ANXA2 was downregulated in ectopic endometrial tissues.Bioinformatics website and dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed that miR-342 negatively modulated ANXA2 expression.Following loss- and gain-of-function approaches, CCK-8, Transwell, and flow cytometry demonstrated that over expression ofmiR-342 markedly increased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion but inhibited cell apoptotic ratio of endometrial stromalcells, which was reversed by ANXA2 elevation. Further, over expressed miR-342 activated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalingpathway, as evidenced by upregulated levels of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-AKT/AKT, and p-mTOR/mTOR. Taken together, miR-342targets ANXA2 to activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, thereby promoting the malignant-like phenotype of endometrial stromal cells, highlighting miR-342 inhibition as a promising approach for the treatment of endometriosis