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Fractalkine and apoptotic/anti-apoptotic markers in granulosa cells of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

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Abstract

Owing to the role of fractalkine in regulating cellular apoptosis/proliferation, we investigated fractalkine effects on apoptosis/proliferation signaling of granulosa cells in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients through in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vivo, granulosa cells were collected from 40 women undergoing oocyte retrieval (20 controls and 20 PCOS). The expression levels of fractalkine, BAX, Bcl2, Bcl2-XL, Bad, and TNF-α were assessed using RT-PCR. In vitro, we determined the effect of different doses of fractalkine on the expression of the above mentioned genes in GCs of both groups. We found that the expression levels of fractalkine and Bcl-2 were significantly lower in the GCs of PCOS patients compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In contrast, the expression levels of TNF-α and BAX were higher in the patient's group than in the control group. The results suggested that expression levels of fractalkine were negatively and positively correlated with the number of oocytes and fertilized oocytes respectively. Moreover, fractalkine could dose-dependently increase fractalkine and decrease BAD, BAX, Bcl-xl, and TNF-α expressions in the control GCs. In contrast, GCs collected from PCOS patients revealed an increase in expression of BAD, BAX, and Bcl-xl following fractalkine treatment. Our findings indicated that insufficient expression of fractalkine in PCOS patients is related with elevated apoptotic and inflammatory markers and reduced anti-apoptotic genes in the GCs.

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Acknowledgments

We thank staff of Al-Zahra Hospital of Tabriz and Milad Fertility Center for providing the patients. Some of the data included are part of the M.Sc. thesis of Aydin Raei Sadigh.

Funding

This study was funded by the Stem Cell Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences [Grant Number: 57778].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stem Cell Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Aydin Raei Sadigh, Amir Fattahi & Mohammad Nouri

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Aydin Raei Sadigh, Masoud Darabi & Mohammad Nouri

  3. Students’ Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Aydin Raei Sadigh

  4. Department of Reproductive Biology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Ali Salmassi, Amir Fattahi & Mohammad Nouri

  5. Women’s Reproductive Health Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Kobra Hamdi, Laya Farzadi & Aliye Ghasemzadeh

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  1. Aydin Raei Sadigh
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  2. Masoud Darabi
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  3. Ali Salmassi
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Correspondence to Amir Fattahi or Mohammad Nouri.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical (Approval cod: IR.TBZMED.REC.1396.181‏).

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Raei Sadigh, A., Darabi, M., Salmassi, A. et al. Fractalkine and apoptotic/anti-apoptotic markers in granulosa cells of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Mol Biol Rep 47, 3593–3603 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05452-0

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