Proteomics and polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder of heterogeneous etiology. Proteomics techniques have been used for elucidating the physiopathology of PCOS, yet the proteins identified so far were rarely the same across tissues and studies. The present review discusses the current challenges in the application of proteomics to the study of PCOS. A well-defined research design and an appropriate selection of study populations, samples and proteomic platforms are essential in clinical proteomics. Furthermore, the findings derived from proteomic approaches should be validated by complementary techniques, and the reproducibility of the results has ideally to be confirmed by different studies. Only when meeting these requirements, the proteins identified by proteomic techniques should be considered as candidates for future studies aiming to define specific molecular phenotypes of PCOS and their possible role in the metabolic and hormonal abnormalities characteristic of this syndrome.

Keywords::

• adipose tissue
• polycystic ovary syndrome
• proteomics

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, grants FIS PI080944 and PI1100357. CIBERDEM is also an initiative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• • Proteomic techniques have evolved during recent years and hold the potential to identify critically important novel proteins and cellular pathways associated with this syndrome, complementing the existing molecular knowledge and providing new insights at a higher level.

• • Current diagnostic definitions of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), standardized operating procedures, sample and proteomic platform selection are the main challenges in the application of proteomics to PCOS.

• • Translation of experimental data to clinical practice needs accurate validation of proteomic findings and computational tools to assess the biological significance of detected proteins.

• • Given the heterogeneity of PCOS, a panel of different proteins, rather than a single protein by itself, may contribute to elucidating the mechanism of disease, thereby providing new insights on PCOS pathophysiology.