title: A possible new mechanism in the pathophysiology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): the discovery that leukocyte telomere length is strongly associated with PCOS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Telomeres are specialized chromatin structures located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, and telomere length plays a clear role in various diseases. However, it is not known whether telomere length is related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of PCOS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used an established and validated quantitative PCR technique to measure the mean LTL in a large sample of PCOS patients and controls. We used logistic regression and multiple linear regression to analyze the association of PCOS and several related clinical parameters with the age-adjusted ratio of the telomere repeat length to the copy number of a single-copy gene (T/S).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individuals with PCOS (n = 698) exhibited significantly shorter LTLs than the controls (n = 611) after adjusting for age (0.764 ± 0.016 vs 0.876 ± 0.023; P = .001; odds ratio = 1.403; 95% confidence interval, 1.150-1.712). The mean telomere length in the leukocytes of PCOS patients was comparable to that of control individuals who were on average 6.16 years older. Individuals having shorter telomere lengths (middle and lowest tertile) had significantly higher disease risk than those having the longest telomere length (highest tertile) (odds ratio = 1.614; 95% confidence interval, 1.262-2.066; P = .0001) after adjusting for age. In addition, a significant correlation between the LTL and the level of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate was observed in controls (r = -0.185; P = .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We provide the first report that LTL is strongly associated with PCOS. This study suggests a new role for LTL in the pathophysiology of PCOS and might have important implications for our understanding of the etiology of the disease.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology (Q.L., R.F., Y.X., H.W., Q.S., L.J., L.W.), School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China; Institutes of Biomedical Sciences (Q.L., R.F., Y.X., H.W., Q.S., Q.X., X.Z., L.H., L.W.), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China; Bio-X Center (L.H.), Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200032, China; and NPFPC Laboratory of Contraception and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research (J.D.), Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Qiaoli
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Ruizhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Haojue
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sang
authors.forename: Qinghe
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Xinzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D011085:Polycystic Ovary Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016615:Telomere / Q000378:metabolism*; D059506:Telomere Shortening / Q000502:physiology*