Expression of Serum Omentin, CTRP9, and Vaspin in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

To explore the relationship between serum omentin, C1q/tumor necrosis factor-related protein-9 (CTRP9), and visceral fat-specific serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) levels in different phenotypes in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

One hundred PCOS patients treated at our hospital's clinic of reproductive medicine were chosen and included into the research group, and 100 healthy women who came for physical examination during the same time period were included into the control group. According to the definition of obesity by the WHO (body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m²), 100 patients with PCOS were equally divided into obese (study group A) and nonobese (study group B) groups. 100 healthy women were also divided into obese (control group A) and nonobese (control group B) groups with 50 patients each. Comparison among the 4 groups was performed in factors/indicators including the serum omentin, CTRP9, and vaspin levels and biochemical indexes (triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting insulin (FINS), total testosterone, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) levels), and the correlation analysis was conducted with omentin, CTRP9, and vaspin.

There was no significant difference in age, TG, TC, and LDL-C among the 4 groups (P > 0.05). The BMI, WHR, HDL-C, and omentin of the obese phenotype were significantly different from those of the nonobese phenotype (P < 0.05). Among the four groups, FINS, HOMA-IR, and vaspin in group A (obesity) was the highest, and the control group B (nonobese) was the lowest. There was no significant difference in the levels of study group B (nonobese) and control group A (obesity). The level of CTRP9 in the study group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Taking serum omentin, CTRP9, and vaspin levels of patients in the study group as dependent variables, Pearson correlation analysis showed that the omentin level was negatively correlated with BMI, WHR, FINS, TG, TC, LDL-C, HOMA-IR, and TT levels (P < 0.05) and was positively correlated with the HDL-C level (P < 0.05); CTRP9 level was negatively correlated with BMI, TC, and HOMA-IR (P < 0.05) and was not correlated with age, WHR, FINS, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, HOMA-IR, and TT levels. The vaspin level was positively correlated with BMI, WHR, FINS, TG, TC, LDL-C, HOMA-IR, and TT levels (P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with HDL-C levels (P < 0.05) and was not correlated with age.

When compared with healthy people, PCOS patients have higher serum vaspin levels and lower CTRP9 levels; BMI, TC, LDL-C, FINS, TG, total testosterone, HDL-C levels, waist-to-hip ratio, and HOMA-IR are all closely related to serum vaspin and CTRP9 levels; increasing serum CTRP9 levels and decreasing vaspin levels help to slow progress and promote prognosis of the disease. Serum omentin level is connected with the obesity index but not with PCOS.