Higher circulating irisin levels in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome:a meta-analysis

Abstract

Insulin resistance (IR) has been reported to be highly associated with the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Although irisin, a newly identified myokine that may be closely associated with IR, has been implicated in the development of PCOS, the results are still ambiguous. We performed this meta-analysis to compare the circulating irisin levels between PCOS and healthy women and assess the association of irisin with IR. Published works were retrieved from PubMed and Embase databases using combinations of ‘irisin’ and (‘polycystic ovary syndrome’ or ‘PCOS’). Eight studies involving 1918 PCOS patients and 528 controls were included in the meta-analysis. Publication bias was observed using a funnel plot and Egger's regression asymmetry test. The pooled data indicated that the levels of irisin were at least 45.78 ng/ml [95% confidence interval (CI)] (12.45, 79.12, p = .007) higher in patients with PCOS than that in the healthy controls. Additionally, we did not observe a significant correlation between circulating irisin levels and IR in study populations, although the results may not be reliable for small sample sizes. The current meta-analysis suggested that irisin might contribute to the development of PCOS independent of IR.

Chinese abstract

已有报道胰岛素抵抗(IR)与多囊卵巢综合征(PCOS)的发病机制密切相关。新发现的鸢尾素：一种可能与IR密切相关的肌细胞因子, 参与了PCOS的发展, 但结果仍然不明确。我们对此进行了Meta分析, 比较PCOS与健康女性之间的血清鸢尾素水平, 并评估其与IR的关系。使用‘irisin’和(‘polycystic ovary syndrome’或‘PCOS’)的组合, 从PubMed和Embase数据库中检索已发表的文章。包含1918例多囊卵巢综合征患者和528名对照者的8项研究纳入了Meta分析。采用漏斗图和Egger回归不对称检验观察发表偏倚。结果显示, 血清鸢尾素水平最少为45.78 ng/ml[95%可信区间(CI)](12.45, 79.12, p=.007), 多囊卵巢综合征患者的水平高于健康对照组。此外, 我们没有在研究人群中观察到血清鸢尾素水平与IR之间的显著相关性, 但此结果由于样本量小可能并不可靠。目前的Meta分析表明, 鸢尾素可能与IR无关, 独立参与了PCOS的发展。

Keywords:

• Irisin
• polycystic ovary syndrome
• insulin resistance

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all authors contributed to this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.: 81700739, 81370943 and 81400770) and Clinical Research Projects of Qilu Hospital (Grant No. 2014QLKY09).