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Steroid Hormone Profiling in Hyperandrogenism and Non-hyperandrogenism Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

  • Reproductive Endocrinology: Original Article
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in the steroid metabolic network between hyperandrogenic and non-hyperandrogenic women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was employed for the quantification of 36 kinds of serum steroids in 80 PCOS women during their follicular phase. Compared with those in non-hyperandrogenemia PCOS women (NA-PCOS), the levels of 17-hydroprogesterone (P = 0.009), androstenedione (P < 0.001), total testosterone (P < 0.001), dihydrotestosterone (P = 0.025), estrone (P = 0.007), and estradiol (P < 0.001) were increased in hyperandrogenemia PCOS (HA-PCOS) women. It was suggested that HA-PCOS may have increased activity of P450c17 (17-hydropregnenolone/pregnenolone, P = 0.008), 3βHSD2 (androstenedione/dehydroepiandrosterone, P = 0.004), and 17βHSD3 (testosterone/dehydroepiandrosterone, P = 0.01) and decreased activity of 5α reductase (dihydrotestosterone/testosterone, P = 0.008). Moreover, the ratio of luteinizing hormone (LH) to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) was found to be related to these increased steroids and enzyme activities. In conclusion, the HA-PCOS and the NA-PCOS women showed different steroid profiles, and the different enzyme activities in steroidogenic pathway may be the main reason for the difference.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code Availability

No code is involved in this research.

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Funding

The project was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (No. BK20190122), Natural Science Foundation of Higher Education of Jiangsu (No. 20KJB310021), Jiangsu Research Hospital Association for Precision Medication (JY202109), Nanjing Pharmaceutical Association-Changzhou SiYao Hospital Pharmaceutical Research Fund (2021YX001), and Nanjing Medical Center for Clinical Pharmacy.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. China Pharmaceutical University Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, 210000, Jiangsu Province, China

      Jiajia Ge, Na Yang & Shanmei Shen

    2. Department of Pharmacy, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu, China

      Na Yang, Huaijun Zhu & Weihong Ge

    3. Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu, China

      Xiaoli Zhang & Jun He

    4. Nanjing Qlife Medical Technology Co., Ltd, Nanjing, 210032, Jiangsu, China

      Meijuan Li, Wei Zhang & Xiaoliang Cheng

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    1. Jiajia Ge
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    Contributions

    All authors participated in the interpretation of the study results and in the drafting, critical revision, and approval of the final version of the manuscript. NY, JG, and SS were involved in the study design and data analyses. JG and XZ were involved in subject recruitment and sample collection. XC, JH, and ML were responsible for sample processing, data analyses, and plotting. WZ, WG, and HZ were responsible for study monitoring.

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    Correspondence to Xiaoliang Cheng, Shanmei Shen or Weihong Ge.

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    Research have been approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital (2021–118-02), and comply with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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    Jiajia Ge and Na Yang contributed equally to this work.

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    Cite this article

    Ge, J., Yang, N., Zhang, X. et al. Steroid Hormone Profiling in Hyperandrogenism and Non-hyperandrogenism Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Reprod. Sci. 29, 3449–3458 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-022-00985-0

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-022-00985-0

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