Selecting excellent oocytes is required to improve the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Cumulus cells (CCs) are an integral\npart of the oocyte maturation process. Therefore, we sought to identify differentially expressed genes in CCs to assess oocyte\nquality and embryo development potential. We divided the participantsâ?? embryos into the high-quality embryo group and lowquality\nembryo group by the information including age, bodymass index, and the levels of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating\nhormone, estradiol, and progesterone.We analyzed a total of 7 CC samples after the quality control in RNA sequencing.We found\nthat 2499 genes were unregulated and 5739 genes were downregulated in high-quality embryo group compared to the low-quality\nembryo group (Padj < 0.05). Interestingly,MSTN, CTGF, NDUFA1, VCAN, SCD5, and STAR were significantly associated with the\nquality of embryo. In accordance with the results of RNA sequencing, the association of the expression levels of MSTN, CTGF,\nNDUFA1, VCAN, SCD5, and STAR with the embryo quality was verified by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain\nreaction (RT-qPCR) in 50 CC samples. Despite the small sample size and lack of validation in animal models, our study supports\nthe fact that differential gene expression profile of human CCs, including MSTN, CTGF, NDUFA1, VCAN, SCD5, and STAR, can\nserve as potential indicator for embryo quality.
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