Abstract
Objectives
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrinopathy, in which hyperandrogenism and hyperinsulinism have both occurred. Fetuin-A, a natural inhibitor of tyrosine kinase, leads to insulin resistance. The aim was to evaluate the relationship between fetuin-A and hyperandrogenism and hyperinsulinism and the role of fetuin-A in the pathophysiology of PCOS.
Methods
Thirty-eight cases with PCOS and 40 healthy adolescents were included in the study. PCOS and controls were divided into obese/non-obese subgroups. LH, FSH, total and free testosterone (TT, FT), SHBG, androstenedione, DHEAS were measured in patients with PCOS. Fasting glucose, insulin, lipid profile, AST, ALT, HsCRP, and fetuin levels of PCOS patients and healthy controls were also measured.
Results
Fetuin-A levels were higher in PCOS patients than in controls. In the obese-PCOS group, when compared to non-obese PCOS patients; the levels of SHBG and HDL were low while cholesterol, LDL, triglyceride, HOMA-IR, FT, FAI, and HSCRP levels were high, but Fetuin-A levels were similar. In the obese-PCOS group, fetuin-A levels were higher than in obese-controls. HOMA-IR and fetuin-A levels were higher in non-obese PCOS patients than in non-obese controls. In the PCOS group, fetuin-A was positively correlated with TT, FT, FAI and androstenedione and negatively correlated with SHBG. Regression analysis demonstrated that FT, SHBG, and androstenedione significantly predicted fetuin-A levels (R2=54%). In non-obese PCOS patients and controls, fetuin-A was positively correlated with insulin and HOMA-IR.
Conclusions
These results suggest a relationship between androgen levels and fetuin-A in PCOS cases, independent of insulin resistance, and may shed light on further studies.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Author contributions: EB, SÇ, ZA design the study. EB, EK, ŞÖ, GD, HSÖ data acquisition. EB, SÇ performed the statistical analysis. EA, SÇ, ZA wrote the manuscript. EB, SÇ, ŞSE, ZA reviewed the manuscript. All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Conflict of interest: None declared.
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Informed consent; All participants were under eighteen years old. Verbal and written informed consent were obtained from all of the participants and their parents.
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Ethical approval: All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the local ethics committee (Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, no: E-17-1311).
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