High level of visfatin and the activation of Akt and ERK1/2 signaling pathways are associated with endometrium malignant transformation in polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the clinicopathological significance of serum levels and endometrium tissue expression of visfatin in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. A total of 80 PCOS patients and 80 matching controls were included in this study. We analyzed the relationship between the expression of visfatin in endometrium and clinicopathological characteristics in PCOS patients. The correlation between the expression of visfatin and p-Akt, Akt, p-ERK1/2, and ERK1/2 in PCOS tissues was evaluated as well. Visfatin expression in PCOS endometrial tissues were significantly higher than those in controls (p = .001). The expression of phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2 were significantly higher in PCOS endometrium tissues compared to controls (p < .05). Moreover, a high expression of tissue visfatin in PCOS tissues was positively correlated with the expression of p-Akt (p = .015), and p-ERK1/2 (p = .013). Western blotting revealed that protein expression of visfatin in PCOS patients with endometrial hyperplasia and cancer was higher than that in patients with normal endometrium tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (p = .027). The expression of p-Akt (p = .018) and p-ERK1/2 (p = .035) in PCOS patients with endometrial hyperplasia and cancer was significantly higher than that in patients with normal endometrium tissues. Visfatin may be a potential biomarker for endometrial malignant transformation in PCOS patients.

摘要

本研究旨在探讨多囊卵巢综合征(PCOS)患者血清内脂素水平及子宫内膜组织中内脂素表达的临床病理意义。本研究共纳入80例多囊卵巢综合征患者和80例对照患者。我们分析了PCOS患者内脂素在子宫内膜中的表达与临床病理特征的关系。分析内脂素的表达与PCOS患者子宫内膜组织中p-Akt、Akt、p-ERK1/2、ERK1/2的相关性。PCOS患者的子宫内膜组织中内脂素的表达显著高于对照组(P=0.001)。PCOS患者子宫内膜组织中Akt和ERK1/2的磷酸化表达明显高于对照组(p<0.05)。PCOS患者组织中内脂素的高表达与p-Akt(p=.015)、p-ERK1/2(p=.013)的表达呈正相关。Western blotting结果显示, PCOS患者合并子宫内膜增生和癌变的组织中内脂素蛋白的表达高于正常子宫内膜组织, 差异有统计学意义(p=.027), PCOS合并子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜癌组织中内脂素蛋白的表达高于正常子宫内膜组织, 差异有统计学意义(p=.027)。p-Akt(p=.018)和p-ERK1/2(p=.035)在PCOS患者合并子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜癌组织中的表达明显高于正常子宫内膜组织。内脂素可能是PCOS患者子宫内膜恶变的潜在生物标志物。

Keywords:

• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• visfatin
• adipocytokine
• biomarker
• endometrial malignant transformation

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Tianjin Science and Technology Plan Project [18ZXDBSY00220], National Natural Science Foundation of China [81602293, 81772790], and Incubation Fund of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital (ZYYFY2014023).