Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the inflammatory-immune cells in the peripheral blood of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and assessed the potential correlation between inflammatory-immune cells and infertility in PCOS women.
Materials and Methods: In this case–control study, the profiles of lymphocyte subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. White blood cells (WBC), neutrophils (Neu), lymphocytes, Ferriman–Gallwey (F–G) score, testosterone, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, fasting blood glucose, and fasting plasma insulin were measured, together with body mass index. Association between inflammatory-immune cells and PCOS was evaluated. Moreover, inflammatory-immune cells of the PCOS women with infertility were evaluated, and the relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve and cutoff values were calculated.
Results: The number of WBC, Neu, and lymphocytes was higher in PCOS women than controls (P< 0.05). The percentages of total T lymphocytes, CD4+T, and NK were significantly increased in the PCOS group (P< 0.001). The CD4/CD8 ratio was obviously elevated for increasing CD4+T (P< 0.05). Consequently, T%, CD4+T%, and NK% were found to be the independent risk factors of PCOS by ROC curve and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, only NK% was significantly higher in PCOS women with infertility than those who had PCOS without infertility (P< 0.001). To diagnose infertility in PCOS, the cutoff value of NK% was calculated as 16.43%.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the pathogenesis of PCOS is related to immune cells including T, CD4+T, and NK cells. NK cells are likely to be a potential predictive factor for PCOS women with infertility.
Keywords: lymphocyte subsets, inflammatory cells, natural killer cells, immunocompetent cells, pathogenesis