Reduced endothelin-2 and hypoxic signaling pathways in granulosa-lutein cells of PCOS women

Magdalena Szymanska, Ketan Shrestha, Eliezer Girsh, Avi Harlev, Iris Eisenberg, Tal Imbar*, Rina Meidan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Granulosa-lutein cells (GLCs) from PCOS women display reduced HIF-1α and EDN2 lev-els, suggesting their role in PCOS etiology. Here, we investigated the mechanisms involved in ab-errant EDN2 expression in PCOS, and its association with HIF-1α. Various HIF-1α-dependent factors were studied in GLCs from PCOS and compared to normally ovulating women. MicroRNA- 210 (miR-210), its target genes (SDHD and GPD1L), and HIF-1α-responsive genes (EDN2 and VEGFA) differed in GLCs from PCOS, compared with those of healthy women. Levels of miR-210— designated hypoxiamiR—and EDN2 were reduced in the PCOS GLCs; concomitantly, GPD1L and SDHD levels were elevated. Cultured GLCs retained low EDN2 expression and had low HIF-1α levels, providing evidence for a disrupted hypoxic response in the PCOS GLCs. However, VEGFA expression was elevated in these cells. Next, miR-210 levels were manipulated. miR-210-mimic stimulated EDN2 twice as much as the miR-NC-transfected cells, whereas miR-210-inhibitor diminished EDN2, emphasizing the importance of hypoxiamiR for EDN2 induction. Intriguingly, VEGFA transcripts were reduced by both miR-210-mimic and -inhibitor, demonstrating that EDN2 and VEGFA are distinctly regulated. Disrupted hypoxic response in the GLCs of periovulatory follicles in PCOS women may play a role in ovulation failure, and in the reduced fertility prevalent in this syndrome.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8216
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume22
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Corpus luteum
  • HIF-1α
  • MiR-210
  • Ovulation
  • VEGFA

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