Humanin regulates oxidative stress in the ovaries of polycystic ovary syndrome patients via the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway

Yingying Wang, Nianyu Li, Zhengyan Zeng, Li Tang, Shuhua Zhao, Fang Zhou, Liping Zhou, Wei Xia, Changhong Zhu, Meng Rao
In: Molecular Human Reproduction · 2020 · vol. 27(2) · doi:10.1093/molehr/gaaa081 · PMID:33337472 · W3116456820
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrinological pathology among women of reproductive age, whereas the pathogenesis is still not fully understood. Systemic and ovarian oxidative stress (OS) imbalance is a pivotal feature of PCOS. Humanin, a mitochondria-derived peptide, has been reported to function as an antioxidant in cardiomyocytes, pancreatic beta cells and other cells, but how this function is regulated remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether humanin expression differs in the granulosa cells (GCs) of PCOS patients versus controls, and whether humanin alleviates OS in PCOS ovaries. Sixteen PCOS patients and 28 age- and BMI-matched controls undergoing IVF were recruited, and their serum, follicular fluid and GCs were collected for humanin analysis. Dehydroepiandrosterone-induced rat PCOS models, and vitamin K3-induced OS COV434 cell lines were applied to investigate the mechanism. Humanin expression was significantly down-regulated in the ovaries of PCOS patients relative to those of non-PCOS patients. Exogenous humanin supplementation significantly attenuated body weight gain, ovarian morphological abnormalities, endocrinological disorders and ovarian and systemic OS in PCOS rat models. Our study further demonstrated that this attenuation effect was involved in the modulation of the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1)/nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signalling pathway. In summary, this study reported for the first time that decreased expression of humanin in the GCs was associated with oxidative imbalance in PCOS. Humanin alleviates OS in ovarian GCs of PCOS patients via modulation of the Keap1/Nrf2 signalling pathway.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Citation neighborhood (sparse)

Too few in-corpus citations on either side for a chart; here are the lists.

Cited by (1)

References (63)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK