Endometrial Vitamin D Receptor in PCOS

Summary

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is widely expressed not only in tissues responsible for calcium hemostasis, but also in reproductive organs, including the endometrium. The VDR, which is low in the proliferative phase, starts to increase in the early secretory phase and decreases again in the mid-secretory phase. Enzymes responsible for vitamin d (VD) production and metabolism are expressed locally in the endometrium. Binding of active VD to VDR in nuclear or plasma membrane increases receptivity gene expression and immunomodulators by activating genomic and nongenomic pathways. VDR expression defect has been reported in the decidual cells of recurrent miscarriages. There are no studies investigating the endometrial VDR expression pattern in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and its phenotypes. The VDR expression pattern in the endometrium of PCOS patients who underwent invitro fertilization /intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) and total embryo freezing was analyzed at both mRNA and immunohistochemical. The study group consisted of 44 PCOS patients who were referred to IVF/ICSI because they did not respond to first-line treatment with letrozole or clomiphene citrate (CC). Twenty patients who were scheduled for IVF/ICSI due to male factor infertility and who were matched with the study group in terms of age and body mass index (BMI) were included as the control group. Following egg collection, endometrial tissue was collected by pipelle cannula while the patient was under anesthesia. All good quality blastocysts of both groups were vitrified. The mRNA expression of vitamin D receptor transcript 2 (VDR-X2) and vitamin D receptor transcript 4 (VDR-X4) were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The quantitative cycle equation method was used to calculate the differences between VDR-mRNA expressions. Endometrial VDR and progesterone receptor (PR) immunoreactivity were determined by immunohistochemistry.

Conditions

• Vitamin D Receptor Defect

Interventions

PROCEDURE

endometrial sampling with pipelle

Following oocyte retrieval while the patient was under anesthesia, endometrial tissue sampling was performed with the help of pipelle cannula. A portion of the endometrial tissue was put into RNA stabilization buffer (RNAlater) to be used in qPCR and stored at -20°C until the analysis. The remaining endometrial tissue was first fixed with 10% formalin, followed by paraffin blocking and prepared for immunohistochemical analysis.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bahçeşehir University

  collaborator OTHER

• Firat University

  collaborator OTHER

• Uşak University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• nur DE gungor, assoc. prof. · BAU IVF-Center

• aynur A ersahin, assoc. prof · BAU IVF-Center

• arzu yurci, assoc. prof. · Memorial IVF-Center

• Ulun ulug, prof · Halic University

• meltem yardım, specialist · Yerkoy State Hospital

• nilufer celik, assoc. prof. · Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital

• ahmet tektemur, assoc. prof · Firat University

• Tuncay Kuloglu, Assoc. prof · Firat University

• Kagan Gungor, Assoc. prof · Medeniyet University

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

26 Years

Max Age

32 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-10-21

Primary Completion

2023-01-25

Completion

2023-04-29

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations