Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease, affecting up to 10% of women of reproductive age and approximately 50% of women with infertility. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to be involved in a number of diseases. Dysregulated expression of circRNAs in endometriosis has been reported, and circ_0000673 was significantly downregulated. However, the details of its role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis are still poorly understood. We investigated the location and effects of the downregulation of circ_0000673 in endometriosis. We demonstrated that knockdown of circ_0000673 significantly increased the proliferation and migration of eutopic and normal endometrial cells. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that circ_0000673 might act as a sponge for miR-616-3p. We found that the effect of circ_0000673 knockdown could be recovered by miR-616-3p inhibitor and enhanced by miR-616-3p mimics. qPCR and western blot assays showed that circ_0000673 knockdown could decrease the expression of PTEN and increase the expression of PI3K and p-AKT. PTEN was confirmed to be a target of miR-616-3p. These results demonstrated that the downregulation of circ_0000673 could promote the progression of endometriosis by inactivating PTEN via the deregulation of miR-616-3p.

中文翻译：

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circ_0000673 的下调通过 Mir-616-3p/PTEN 轴促进子宫内膜异位症中的细胞增殖和迁移。

子宫内膜异位症是一种常见的妇科疾病，影响多达 10% 的育龄妇女和约 50% 的不孕妇女。环状 RNA (circRNA) 已被证明与多种疾病有关。据报道，子宫内膜异位症中 circRNA 表达异常，circ_0000673 显着下调。然而，其在子宫内膜异位症发病机制中的作用的细节仍然知之甚少。我们研究了 circ_0000673 下调在子宫内膜异位症中的位置和影响。我们证明了 circ_0000673 的敲低显着增加了在位和正常子宫内膜细胞的增殖和迁移。生物信息学分析预测 circ_0000673 可能充当 miR-616-3p 的海绵。我们发现 circ_0000673 敲低的效果可以通过 miR-616-3p 抑制剂恢复并通过 miR-616-3p 模拟物增强。qPCR 和蛋白质印迹分析表明，circ_0000673 敲低可以降低 PTEN 的表达并增加 PI3K 和 p-AKT 的表达。PTEN 被证实是 miR-616-3p 的靶标。这些结果表明，circ_0000673 的下调可以通过 miR-616-3p 的失调使 PTEN 失活来促进子宫内膜异位症的进展。