Serologic autoimmunologic parameters in women with primary ovarian insufficiency

Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is heterogeneous disease defined by amenorrhea or premature depletion of ovarian follicles before the age of 40 years. The etiology of POI is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether women with POI have an elevated serum levels of autoimmunologic parameters.

The serum from peripheral blood samples which come from 96 POI patients and 100 age-matched health women were analyzed for a series of autoimmune antibodies using protein microarray. The antibodies to double-stranded DNA (ds-DNA), histone (HIS), nuclear ribonucleoprotein (RNP), Sjogren's syndrome A (SSA/Ro), Sjogren's syndrome B (SSB/La) and Smith antigen, Jo-1, scleroderma-associated antigen (Scl-70) and centromere (CEN), zona pellucid (ZP), adrenocortical antibodies (ACA),Rheumatoid factor (RF), glomerular basement membrane (GBM), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), proteinase 3 (PR3), thyroid microsomal antibody and antinuclear antibody (ANA)were analyzed.

Among the 96 women with POI and 100 age-matched health controls, women with POI had significantly elevated circulation levels of Jo-1 and PR3 (p = 0.010 and p = 0.001) whereas circulation levels of ANAs, dsDNA, histone, RNP, Sm, Scl-70, SSA, SSB, CEN, ZP, ACA, RF, GBM, PCNA, MPO and TM antibodies were similar between the two groups.

This study shows that the autoimmune antibodies JO-1 and PR3 were significantly higher in POI women group which suggested that these antibodies may have played special role in POI, but the evaluation of the exact pathways of them remains to be determined.