Oral contraceptive pill (OCP) treatment alters the gene expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) women compared to drug-naive PCOS women

BACKGROUND

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) presents clinical symptoms of menstrual abnormalities, excessive hair growth (hirsutism), scalp hair loss, acne and infertility. Metabolic abnormalities such as obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and cardiovascular problems constitute an essential part of PCOS, all of which can have significant long-term health consequences. Low-grade chronic inflammation demonstrated by persistent moderately elevated serum levels of inflammatory and coagulatory markers plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. Oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) constitute the mainstay of pharmacologic therapy for women with PCOS to regularize cyclicity and ameliorate androgen excess. On the other hand, OCP use is associated with various venous thromboembolic and proinflammatory events in the general population. PCOS women always carriers the increased lifetime risk of these events. The studies on the effect of OCPs on inflammatory, coagulation and metabolic parameters in PCOS are less robust. Therefore in this study, we investigated and compared the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiles of genes implicated in inflammatory and coagulation pathways between drug-naive and OCP-treated PCOS women. The selected genes include intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Furthermore, the correlation between the selected markers and various metabolic indices in the OCP group has also been explored.

METHOD

The relative amounts of ICAM-1, TNF-α, MCP-1 and PAI-1 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 25 drug-naive PCOS subjects (controls) and 25 PCOS subjects who received OCPs containing 0.03 mg-ethinyl-estradiol and 0.15 mg-levonorgestrel for at least six months (cases) were estimated using real-time qPCR. The statistical interpretation was conducted using SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL), Epi Info version 2002 (Disease Control and Prevention Centres, Atlanta, GA) and GraphPad Prism 5 (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA) software.

RESULT

Six months of OCP therapy enhanced the expression of inflammatory genes viz ICAM-1, TNF-α and MCP-1 mRNA in PCOS women by 2.54, 2.05 and 1.74 folds, respectively, in this study. However, PAI-1 mRNA in the OCP group showed no significant increase. Furthermore, in cases, ICAM-1 mRNA expression positively correlated with body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.01), fasting insulin (p = 0.01), insulin 2 h p = 0.02), glucose 2 h (p = 0.01) and triglycerides (p = 0.01). TNF-α mRNA expression positively correlated with fasting insulin (p = 0.0007). MCP-1 mRNA expression positively correlated with (BMI) (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

OCPs helped reduce clinical hyperandrogenism and regularise menstrual cycles in women with PCOS. However, OCP use was associated with increased fold expression of inflammatory markers which positively correlated with metabolic abnormalities.

Androgen receptor coregulator long noncoding RNA CTBP1-AS is associated with polycystic ovary syndrome in Kashmiri women

OBJECTIVE

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common reproductive, endocrine, and metabolic disorder in premenopausal women. Even though the pathophysiology of PCOS is complex and obscure, the disorder is prominently considered as the syndrome of hyperandrogenism. C-Terminal binding protein 1 antisense (CTBP1-AS) acts as a novel androgen receptor regulating long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). Therefore, the present study was aimed to establish the possible association of androgen receptor regulating long noncoding RNA CTBP1-AS with PCOS.

METHODS

A total of 178 subjects including 105 PCOS cases and 73 age-matched healthy controls were recruited for the study. The anthropometric, hormonal, and biochemical parameters of all subjects were analyzed. Total RNA was isolated from peripheral venous blood and expression analysis was done by quantitative real-time PCR. The correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the association between and various clinical parameters and lncRNA CTBP1-AS expression.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The mean expression level of CTBP1-AS was found to be significantly higher in the PCOS women than in the healthy controls (-lnCTBP1-AS, 4.23 ± 1.68 versus 1.24 ± 0.29, P < 0.001). Furthermore, subjects with higher expression level of CTBP1-AS had significantly higher risk of PCOS compared to subjects with low levels of CTBP1-AS expression (actual OR = 11.36, 95% CI = 5.59-23.08, P < 0.001). The area under receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.987 (SE 0.006, 95% CI 0.976-0.99). However, lncRNA CTBP1-AS was found to have no association with different clinical characteristics of PCOS. In conclusion, androgen receptor coregulating lncRNA CTBP1-AS is associated with PCOS women and high expression of CTBP1-AS is a risk factor for PCOS in Kashmiri women.

Furazolidone treatment suppresses pubertal testosterone secretion in male broiler breeder birds (Gallus domesticus)

We determined the effect of chronic administration of furazolidone (Fz) on sexual maturation of male broiler breeder birds (Ross 308; Gallus domesticus). A total of 20 15-w-old birds were randomly assigned to receive 0, 150, 250 or 350 mg Fz/kg feed daily for 5-w. Blood samples were taken at weekly intervals. The birds were challenged with 500 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) i.v. at the age of 24 w before slaughtering. Concentration of testosterone in the plasma was measured by a specific radioimmunoassay. Testicular tissue was processed for morphometric studies. Testicular weights of the groups fed 250 or 350 mg Fz/kg feed/d were decreased (P < 0.05). Plasma testosterone levels were affected by age (P < 0.001) and dose of Fz (P < 0.001). Mean plasma testosterone levels during and after drug administration were reduced (P < 0.05) by all Fz doses. Human chorionic gonadotropin administration led to poor testosterone response (P < 0.05) in all Fz-dosed groups, but not the control group (P < 0.05). As compared to the control, Fz-dosing reduced the seminiferous tubule diameter (P < 0.05) at the 350 mg/kg feed dose, seminiferous epithelial height (P < 0.05) at the 250 and 350 mg/kg feed doses, and Leydig cell nuclear diameter (P < 0.05) at the 350 mg/kg feed dose. This data suggest that sexual maturation in male broiler breeder birds is adversely affected by chronic Fz-administration. Actions of Fz on sexual maturation probably involve a direct effect at the testicular level.