Association between Th1/Th2 immune imbalance and obesity in women with or without polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the Th1/Th2 cells in peripheral blood of PCOS patients, and assess the potential correlation between Th1/Th2 imbalance and obesity.

Methods: Thirty-nine PCOS patients and 23 age-matched controls were enrolled. The PBMCs were obtained before pharmacological intervention in women with or without PCOS. The profiles of Th1 (IFN-γ) and Th2 (IL-4) cytokines of CD3⁺CD⁻ T lymphocyte subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. Plasma sex hormones including E₂, T, FSH, LH, and FINS, FPG were measured, together with BMI, WC, LH/FSH, E₂/T and HOMA-IR index being calculated. Association between Th1/Th2 imbalance and BMI, WC were evaluated.

Results: The proportion of Th1 cells and Th1/Th2 ratio were significantly higher in PCOS patients than those in controls, accompanied by elevated T, LH, LH/FSH, FINS, HOMA-IR index and reduced E₂/T. The Th1/Th2 ratio was increased when BMI and WC were enhanced in PCOS. Moreover, the significant difference of Th1/Th2 ratio was observed between WC subgroups of PCOS.

Conclusions: It is concluded that Th1 type immunity is predominant in systemic immunization of PCOS patients. Th1/Th2 immune imbalance is connected with obesity, especially abdominal obesity, and may be one of the underlying mechanism for the pathogenesis of PCOS.

Chinese abstract

伴或不伴多囊卵巢综合征的女性中Th1/Th2免疫失衡与肥胖之间的相关性研究

摘要

目的：本研究旨在观察PCOS患者外周血中Th1/Th2细胞的表达情况, 评估Th1/Th2失衡与肥胖之间的潜在相关性。

方法：本研究共纳入39例PCOS患者和23例年龄相匹配的正常对照者。在伴或不伴PCOS的女性进行药物干预之前提取PBMCs。通过流式细胞术分析CD3^?CD^?T淋巴细胞亚群的Th1 (IFN-γ)和Th2 (IL-4)细胞因子的分布。检测血浆性激素包括E₂、T、FSH、LH以及FINS、FPG、BMI、WC、LH/FSH、E₂/T, 并计算HOMA-IR指数。评估Th1/Th2失衡与BMI和WC之间的相关性。

结果：PCOS患者Th1细胞比例和Th1/Th2比值显著高于对照组, 伴有T、LH、LH/FSH、FINS和HOMA-IR指数升高以及E₂/T降低。在PCOS患者中, BMI和WC升高时, Th1/Th2比值增加。此外, 还观察到在PCOS患者的WC亚组中, Th1/Th2比值存在显著差异。

结论：Th1型免疫在PCOS患者的全身免疫中占主导地位。 Th1/Th2免疫失衡与肥胖有关, 尤其是腹部肥胖, 这可能是PCOS患者潜在发病机制之一。

关键词: 多囊卵巢综合征, Th1/Th2免疫失衡, 肥胖, 体重指数, 腰围

Keywords:

• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Th1/Th2 immune imbalance
• obesity
• Body Mass Index
• waist circumference

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded in Project of Jiangsu Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Science and Technology (YB2017057) and Changzhou Municipality Health Technology High-level Talent (2016CZLJ031).