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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1470283
This article is part of the Research Topic Immunotherapy Resistance and Chronic Inflammation View all articles

Systematic low-grade chronic inflammation and intrinsic mechanisms in polycystic ovary syndrome

Provisionally accepted
Hongxia Deng Hongxia Deng 1,2Yan Chen Yan Chen 1,2,3Jilong Xing Jilong Xing 4Nannan Zhang Nannan Zhang 2,5*Liangzhi XU Liangzhi XU 1,2,3*
  • 1 Reproductive Endocrinology and Regulation Laboratory, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Ministry of Education, Sichuan University,, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 4 Division of Renal and Endocrinology, Qin Huang Hospital, Xi'an, China
  • 5 China Birth Defects Monitoring Center, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine and metabolic disorder affecting 6-20% of women of childbearing age worldwide. Immune cell imbalance and dysregulation of inflammatory factors can lead to systematic low-grade chronic inflammation (SLCI), which plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. A significant higher infiltration of immune cells such as macrophages and lymphocytes and pro-inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α has been detected in PCOS organ systems, impacting not only the female reproductive system but also other organs such as the cardiovascular, intestine, liver, thyroid, brain and other organs. Obesity, insulin resistance (IR), steroid hormones imbalance and intestinal microecological imbalance, deficiencies in vitamin D and selenium, as well as hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) can induce systematic imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cells and molecules. The pro-inflammatory cells and cytokines also interact with obesity, steroid hormones imbalance and IR, leading to increased metabolic imbalance and reproductive-endocrine dysfunction in PCOS patients. This review aims to summarize the dysregulation of immune response in PCOS organ system and the intrinsic mechanisms affecting SLCI in PCOS to provide new insights for the systemic inflammatory treatment of PCOS in the future.

    Keywords: chronic inflammation, intrinsic mechanisms, intestinal microecological, steroid hormones, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Deng, Chen, Xing, Zhang and XU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Nannan Zhang, China Birth Defects Monitoring Center, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China
    Liangzhi XU, Reproductive Endocrinology and Regulation Laboratory, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.