Abstract
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most prevalent endocrine disorder affecting females. It is a common cause of menstrual irregularities and infertility during a woman's reproductive years. Many factors may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of POCS. One of these factors is related to immunogenetics. Cytokines are significant immunomodulatory proteins for regulating and controlling cell functions involved in the immune system. The imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways plays a role in PCOS etiology. We investigated the relationship between gene polymorphisms interleukin (IL-10) (rs1800871, rs1800872, rs1800896) and tumor necrosis (TNF-alpha) (rs1799724) in Saudi women with PCOS.The study group consisted of 93 Saudi females (mean age 31.05 +/- 0.590, range 18 - 40 years) with PCOS. The control group consisted of 98 Saudi women without PCOS. Blood was obtained, and DNA was extracted for each patient and control. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of promoter regions were determined using Taq Man genotyping assays. The polymorphism frequencies in IL-10 (rs1800871) A/A, A/G, and G/G genotypes were 7.5%, 38.7%, and 53.76%, respectively in PCOS patients and 5.1%, 45.9%, and 49.0%, respectively in controls with no significant differences between the groups. No significant differences in IL-10 polymorphism frequencies in C/C, C/T, and T/T between groups were noted. No significant differences were seen ple parameters for TNFbetween groups with respect to the sam TNF-alpha. The differences in frequencies of alleles and genotypes were not significant between Saudi women with PCOS and controls. We conclude that though in some populations, meta-analyses showed an association between IL-10 and TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms and PCOS, this association is not apparent in Saudi females.