Metastin levels in relation with hormonal and metabolic profile in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2014.06.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

The aim of the present study was to evaluate serum concentrations of metastin in relation with hormonal and metabolic profile in patients with and without polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Study design

The study was a clinical study. Eighty-three women with PCOS and 66 body mass index (BMI) matched controls were divided into two groups, based on BMI: overweight and obese (BMI  25 kg/m2) and normal weight. (BMI < 25 kg/m2) Hirsutism scores, hormonal and metabolic profile as well as metastin levels were evaluated in each subject. Blood samples were collected in the early follicular phase (between day 2 and day 5 of the menstrual cycle) at 9:00 AM, after an overnight fast. Circulating levels of LH, FSH, PRL, TSH, T, fT, DHEAS, 17-OH-P, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), insulin, glucose, lipid profile and metastin were measured.

Results

Metastin levels were significantly higher in the PCOS group compared to controls (2.02 ng/ml versus 1.16 ng/ml, p < 0.001). Metastin levels correlated significantly positively with luteinizing hormone (LH), total testosterone (T), dehydroepiandrosteronesulphate (DHEA-SO4) levels, modified Ferriman–Gallwey (mFG) scores and free androgen index (FAI); however, correlated negatively with sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels (p < 0.05). When overweight or obese (BMI  25 kg/m2) and normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2) women with PCOS were compared to body mass index (BMI) matched controls, higher metastin levels were also found in PCOS groups (1.94 ng/ml versus 1.18 ng/ml, and 2.06 ng/ml versus 1.08 ng/ml, p < 0.05, respectively).

Conclusions

These findings suggest that metastin levels were higher in women with PCOS as compared to controls regardless of BMI. Furthermore, metastin levels can be used as a specific marker for androgenic profile and this marker might play a role in the pathogenesis of PCOS.

Introduction

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders affecting women, with a prevalence of 6–12% in women of reproductive age [1]. It is characterized by androgen excess, chronic oligoanovulation and polycystic ovaries (PCO) on ultrasound. Clinically, the androgen excess presents as hirsutism and acne, whereas anovulation presents as subfertility and menstrual irregularity. In addition, severe physiological abnormalities such as insulin resistance, inflammation, visceral fat, cardiovascular disease, infertility are common among women with PCOS [2].

Metastin is a 54 amino-acid peptide, which was first isolated from the human placenta in 2001 [3]. It is encoded by the Kiss-1 gene, therefore it is also known as Kiss-1 peptide (kisspeptin) [4]. Metastin action is exerted by a trans-membrane G-protein coupled receptor, named GPR54, AXOR12, or HoT7T175 [3], [4], [5], [6]. Loss of Kiss-1 gene function is reported to be associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in humans and animal models [7], [8]. Metastin has recently been shown to regulate the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) during the promotion of ovulation [9] by stimulating gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) release from the hypothalamus [10], [11].

Women with PCOS commonly display deregulated gonadotropin secretion with higher LH pulsatility and perturbed LH/FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) ratios, which likely contributes to the ovarian phenotype and might be indicative of disrupted GnRH secretory activity. Given the complex relationship between metastin and hypothalamic-pituitary gonadal axis, the present study aimed to investigate whether there was a difference in serum metastin levels between women with and without PCOS, a condition associated with aberrant gonadotropin secretion and hyperandrogenemia. This study also set out to correlate serum metastin levels in relation with hormonal and metabolic profile to evaluate the possible correlations between metastin and PCOS-related reproductive and metabolic disturbances.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The design of the present study was approved by the ethical committee and institutional review board of Selcuk University, Faculty of Medicine, where the study was conducted. Written informed consents were obtained from all participants. A total sample size of 88 (22 cases for each group) was required to detect at least 0.58 (ng/ml) difference in metastin levels between groups with a power of 80% at the 5% significance level. The difference of 0.58 (ng/ml) was taken from both pilot study and

Results

Demographic, clinical, biochemical and hormonal characteristics of women with PCOS and controls are summarized in Table 1. Age, fasting insulin, T, fT, DHEA-SO4, LH levels and mFG and FAI scores were significantly higher, whereas SHBG and fasting plasma glucose levels were lower in PCOS group compared to controls (p < 0.05). Metastin levels were also found to be higher in women with PCOS than controls (2.02 [056–443] ng/ml versus 1.16 [045–200] ng/ml, p < 0.001) (Fig. 1). Table 2 shows the

Discussion

The Kiss-1 system has emerged in the recent years as a fundamental player in the control of the reproductive axis, with essential roles in differentiation and pubertal activation of the reproductive system as well as key functions in the regulation of ovulation and the metabolic control of fertility. These features make it tempting to predict that alterations of this system might result in substantial perturbations of the gonadotropic axis, some of which may resemble those seen in PCOS [16]. As

Cited by (31)

  • Circulating kisspeptin and anti-müllerian hormone levels, and insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression

    2021, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
    Citation Excerpt :

    PCOS sample sizes across studies ranged from 20 [33] to 250 [37]. The PCOS diagnosis followed (i) the Rotterdam criteria in 17 studies [29–43,45–47], and (ii) 1 study was based on the association of chronic anovulation (< 6 cycles in 12 months) with hyperandrogenemia [44]. Six studies were carried out in Turkey [33,37,38,41,42,47], 2 in China [34,46], 2 in Iraq [29,39], and 1 in each of the following countries: Bulgaria [43], Egypt [45], Ghana [31], Greece [44], Korea [40], Kuwait [36], Saudi Arabia [35] and Sri Lanka [32].

  • Pathological pulses in PCOS

    2019, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
  • Circulatory metastin/kisspeptin-1 in polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis with diagnostic test accuracy

    2019, Reproductive BioMedicine Online
    Citation Excerpt :

    The suggested positive correlation between KISS-1 and LH substantiates previous speculation that KISS-1 plays a role in initiating GnRH secretion and the ability of KISS-1 in eliciting LH secretion in vivo (Gottsch et al., 2004; Navarro and Tena-Sempere, 2012). Correlations of KISS-1 with testosterone and DHEAS, however, reflect the hyperandrogenism associated with PCOS (Yilmaz et al., 2014). Owing to the contradicting results reported previously (Panidis et al., 2006; Jeon et al., 2013; Yilmaz et al., 2014; Nyagolova et al., 2016; Ozay et al., 2016; Albalawi et al., 2018), we also did not notice significant correlations between KISS-1 with BMI and insulin resistance in this meta-analysis.

  • Kisspeptin and body weight homeostasis in relation to phenotypic features of polycystic ovary syndrome; metabolic regulation of reproduction

    2019, Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews
    Citation Excerpt :

    Similar to our result, a study conducted by Gorkem et al. observed that women with PCOS had increased serum KISS levels compared to controls [20]. In agreement with our results, Yilmaz et al. observed metastin (KISS) levels were higher in women with PCOS as compared to controls regardless of BMI [21]. Our findings are in concordance with Katulski et al. who detected a significantly higher KISS pulse frequency as well as integrated serum concentrations group of PCOS patients with oligomenorrhea than the eumenorrheic group of PCOS subjects [22].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text