Transcriptomic identification of differentially expressed genes in Levonorgestrel resistant endometrial cancer cell lines

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the world and incidence is steadily increasing. The Levonorgestrel Intrauterine System (LNG‐IUS) is an alternative conservative treatment for early‐stage EC, however, Levonorgestrel (LNG) resistance occurs for 1 in 3 people. This study aimed to present potential LNG resistance mechanisms and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in EC cell lines. Two LNG resistant cell lines were developed through long term culture in LNG (MFE296R and MFE319R). Whole transcriptome sequencing was carried out on triplicate RNA samples. EdgeR v3.32.1 was used to identify differentially DEGs. Blast2go V6.0 (BioBam software) was used for functional annotation and analysis of genomic datasets. Protein interactions were investigated using the STRING database, including the identification of genes with high levels of interaction (HUB genes). Select DEGs and HUB genes were validated by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) and Western blot. Fifteen DEGs were identified according to FDR