Ceramide subclasses identified as novel lipid biomarker elevated in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a pilot study employing shotgun lipidomics

Abstract

This study aimed to identify potential lipid biomarkers in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and determine their predictive value for PCOS. Eighteen women with PCOS and 17 healthy controls were enrolled. A multi-dimensional mass spectrometry-based shotgun lipidomics approach was employed to analyze serum lipid profiles. Shotgun lipidomics revealed that the concentrations of ceramide (Cer) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were higher (PC: 831.6 ± 217.4 vs. 605.2 ± 164.2 μmol/l; Cer: 3,387.6 ± 829.9 vs. 2,552.2 ± 679.4 nmol/l, respectively), whereas that of lysophosphatidylcholine was lower, in PCOS women than in healthy controls (82.02 ± 39.49 vs. 133.62 ± 65.36 μmol/l, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that the combination of Cer (OH_N16:0/N18:0) and Cer (N22:0) had the greatest discriminatory power to differentiate between women with and without PCOS (area under the curve: 0.889, 95% confidence interval: 0.784–0.994). These results indicate that the combination of Cer (OH_N16:0/N18:0) and Cer (N22:0) may represent a novel lipid predictor of PCOS.

摘要

本研究旨在确定多囊卵巢综合征(PCOS)妇女中的潜在脂类生物标志物, 并确定其对PCOS的预测价值。研究纳入18例多囊卵巢综合征妇女和17例健康对照。采用基于多维质谱的鸟枪法脂质组学来分析血清脂质谱。鸟枪法脂质组学结果显示：PCOS患者血清神经酰胺(Cer)和磷脂酰胆碱(PC)水平明显高于正常对照组(PC: 831.6±217.4 VS 605.2±164.2lmol/l；Cer: 3387.6±829.9 VS 2552.2±679.4 nmol/l), 溶血磷脂酰胆碱水平明显低于健康对照组(82.02±39.49 VS 133.62±65.36 umol) 。受试者工作特征分析显示, Cer(OH_N16：0/N18：0)和Cer(N22：0)联合检测对多囊卵巢综合征与非多囊卵巢综合征女性的鉴别能力最强(曲线下面积：0.889, 95%可信区间：0.784∼0.994)。结果显示Cer(OH_N16：0/N18：0)和Cer(N22：0)联合检测可作为PCOS的一种新的血脂预测指标。

The Chinese abstracts are translated by Prof. Dr. Xiangyan Ruan and her team: Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100026, China.

Keywords:

• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• ceramide
• shotgun lipidomics
• insulin resistance

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the research volunteers for their participation in this study.

Author contributions

Huiyong Yin and Shengxian Li conceived and designed the study. Xinli Xue, Rong Huang, Jun Zheng, and Wei Liu performed the experiments. Yihong Jiang and Jia Qi analyzed the data. Yihong Jiang and Jia Qi wrote the paper. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant (No. 81471029, No. 81671518, No. 91857112, No. 31671231), National Key R&D Program of China administered by Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) (No. 2016YFD0400205) and Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China.