The suppressive impact of miR-139-5p on HOXA10 gene expression was confirmed in our study, and in addition we observed a downregulation of another homeobox gene, HOXA9. A lower level of HOXA10 expression in ovarian endometriomas and peritoneal endometriotic lesions in contrast to eutopic endometrium has been previously detected and it has been speculated that aberrant HOXA10 expression might contribute to endometriosis pathogenesis through progesterone resistance [18] or by the induction of autophagy [19]. Here, HOXA10 is linked to endometriosis.