Chapter 6 - How induced pluripotent stem cells changed the research status of polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

As a hot topic in the frontier of medicine, stem cells can not only be applied in treatment of various diseases, but also provide reliable in vitro models for disease research. With the first step taken 40 years from now, the stem cell acquisition and isolation technologyhas developed relatively well. Nevertheless, limited by the sources of material as well as the ethical dilemma of using embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and adult stem cells, scientists are now focusing on regeneratingthe infinite proliferation and multi-differential potential of those terminally differentiated somatic cells. The reprogramming technology mainly include somatic cell nuclear transfer technology (SCNT), cell fusion technology and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSc) technology, and the last one outperformed the former two for its higher efficiency, simpler operation, higher cost performance, safety and higher precision. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is featured by endocrine disorders and metabolic syndromes with complex clinical manifestations (persistent anovulation, insulin resistance, hyperandrogenemia and hyperinsulinemia) caused by hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis dysfunction and a metabolic disorder. Despite thephysical suffering and the psychological burden of the patients, the etiology, diagnostic criteria and optimal treatment for PCOS are currently vague. Meanwhile, there still lacks animal model that can fully simulate all the characteristics of clinical PCOS patients at present. With the development of iPSC technology, the ability of continuous self-renewal and the potential of multidirectional differentiation of these cells have made them powerful tools for the research and development of disease mechanism. Up to date, progress has been madeon the establishment of PCOS-iPSCs cell models for maintaining the disease gene phenotype in vitro to further advance the exploration of the pathogenesis, pathogenic genes, and drug screening of PCOS.