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Gene expression profiling of granulosa cells from PCOS patients following varying doses of human chorionic gonadotropin

  • Gonadal Physiology and Disease
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) has been used to induce ovulation and oocyte maturation. Although the most common dose of hCG used in IVF is 10,000 IU, there are reports that suggest 5,000 IU is sufficient to yield similar results. The objective of this study is to evaluate the dose dependent differences in gene expression of granulosa cells following various doses of hCG treatment.

Methods

Patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) were stimulated for IVF treatment. The hCG injection was either withheld or given at 5,000 or 10,000 IU. Granulosa cells from the follicular fluids have been collected for RNA isolation and analyzed using Affymetrix genechip arrays.

Results

Unsupervised hierarchical clustering based on whole gene expression revealed two distinct groups of patients in this experiment. All untreated patients were clustered together whereas hCG-treated patients separated to a different group regardless of the dose. A large number of the transcripts were similarly up- or down-regulated across both hCG doses (2229 and 1945 transcripts, respectively). However, we observed dose-dependent statistically significant differences in gene expression in only 15 transcripts.

Conclusions

Although hCG injection caused a major change in the gene expression profile of granulosa cells, 10,000 IU hCG resulted in minimal changes in the gene expression profiles of granulosa cells as compared with 5,000 IU. Thus, based on our results, we suggest the use of 10,000 IU hCG should be reconsidered in PCOS patients.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 11211

    Serdar Coskun & Hend Al-Mayman

  2. Department of Medicine, BIDMC Genomics Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Hasan H. Otu

  3. Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey, 34060

    Hasan H. Otu

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 11211

    Khalid A. Awartani & Saad Al-Hassan

  5. Department of Genetics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 11211

    Laila A. Al-Alwan, Namik Kaya & Mehmet S. Inan

Authors
  1. Serdar Coskun
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  2. Hasan H. Otu
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  3. Khalid A. Awartani
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  4. Laila A. Al-Alwan
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  5. Saad Al-Hassan
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Correspondence to Serdar Coskun.

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Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) gene expression of granulosa cells following various doses of hCG during IVF treatment.

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Coskun, S., Otu, H.H., Awartani, K.A. et al. Gene expression profiling of granulosa cells from PCOS patients following varying doses of human chorionic gonadotropin. J Assist Reprod Genet 30, 341–352 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-013-9935-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-013-9935-y

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