Abstract
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine and metabolic disorder in women. Gut microbiota has been implicated to play a critical role in metabolic diseases and may modulate the secretion of mediators of the brain–gut axis. Interaction between gut microbiota and the endocrine and biochemical disturbances in PCOS still remains elusive. Here, we showed an altered gut microbiota significantly correlated with PCOS phenotype. There were 33 patients with PCOS (non-obese PCOS individuals, PN, n = 12; obese PCOS individuals, PO, n = 21) as well as 15 control subjects (non-obese control individuals, CN, n = 9; obese control individuals, CO, n = 6) enrolled in our study. The plasma levels of serotonin, ghrelin, and peptide YY (PYY) were significantly decreased in patients with PCOS compared with controls, and have a significantly negative correlation with waist circumference and testosterone. Sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples revealed the substantial differences of gut microbial species between the PCOS and non-obese controls. Bacterial species were clustered into 23 co-abundance groups (CAGs) based on the SparCC correlation coefficients of their relative abundance. The CAGs increased in PCOS, including the bacteria belonging to Bacteroides, Escherichia/Shigella and Streptococcus, were negatively correlated with ghrelin, and positively correlated with testosterone and BMI. Furthermore, the CAGs that were decreased in PCOS, including the bacteria from Akkermansia and Ruminococcaceae, showed opposite relationship with body-weight, sex-hormone, and brain–gut peptides. In conclusion, gut microbial dysbiosis in women with PCOS is associated with the disease phenotypes.
Highlights
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a common heterogeneous endocrine and chronic metabolic disease affecting 3–26% of reproductive-aged women by applying the different diagnostic criteria (Michelmore et al, 1999; March et al, 2010; Li et al, 2013)
The level of ghrelin was lower in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared with women without PCOS, and it was lower in obese women with PCOS compared with non-obese women with PCOS
peptide YY (PYY) showed a significant decrease in PCOS with obesity (PO) group compared with control with non-obesity (CN) and control with obesity (CO) groups, while PCOS with non-obesity (PN) group was decreased compared to CN and CO and it was higher than the PO group
Summary
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a common heterogeneous endocrine and chronic metabolic disease affecting 3–26% of reproductive-aged women by applying the different diagnostic criteria (Michelmore et al, 1999; March et al, 2010; Li et al, 2013). Women with PCOS are faced with increased risk of endometrial cancer, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in the long term (Legro et al, 1999; Hardiman et al, 2003; Dumesic and Lobo, 2013). They showed hyperandrogenism, hyperinsulinemia, anovulation, and polycystic ovarian morphology (Landay et al, 2009), and had 2.8-fold higher prevalence of obesity compared to women without PCOS according to a recent meta-analysis (Lim et al, 2013). The experimental evidence of the relationship between gut microbiota, mediators of the brain–gut axis and metabolic phenotypes of PCOS in human is still absent
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call