Looking at the links between polycystic ovaries and insulin resistance

Imperial College London has launched a project aimed at understanding the link between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and insulin resistance.

It is known that women with PCOS have a three-fold increase in their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, where the body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use insulin properly. Insulin resistance is an important factor in the condition, which is the most common female hormone disorder. PCOS affects between five and 10 per cent of women and is a major cause of infertility.

The project, funded by the charity WellBeing of Women, aims to identify a defective point on the insulin signalling pathway in women with PCOS. The ICL researchers hope this will enable the development of new therapies which target this part of the pathway, to counter the insulin resistance and the fertility problems that PCOS can cause.

Insulin resistance - and/or the compensatory excess of insulin in the bloodstream - may contribute to abnormalities in function of the ovaries that lead to many of the symptoms of PCOS. These include irregular periods, or no periods at all; fertility problems; weight gain; acne; and excessive hair growth (hirsutism).

A longer term concern is that insulin resistance also predisposes people to diabetes. In some patients the pancreas is unable, in the long-term, to produce enough insulin to compensate for the resistance of the tissues to insulin action. Consequently, blood sugar levels rise. What is not known is why PCOS and insulin resistance are so closely related.

The researchers hope that the new project will explain the link between PCOS and insulin resistance and how the link manifests itself at the level of individual cells.

The researchers will be looking at how ovarian cells metabolise glucose in women both with and without PCOS.

Source: Imperial College London