Search

Background: The present study examined the contribution of ethnicity to the association of leptin receptor gene (LEPR) gene variants with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in Tunisian and Bahraini Arabic-speaking women. Methods: Subjects consisted of 320 women with PCOS, and 446 eumenorrhic women from Tunisia, and 242 women with PCOS and 238 controls from Bahrain. Genotyping of (exonic) rs1137100 and rs1137101 and (intronic) rs2025804 LEPR variants was done by allelic exclusion. Results: The minor allele frequencies (MAFs) of rs1137100 and rs1137101 were significantly different between PCOS cases and control women from Bahrain but not Tunisia, and LEPR rs1137101 was associated with increased PCOS susceptibility only in Bahraini subjects. Furthermore, rs1137100 was associated with decreased PCOS risk among Bahrainis under codominant and recessive models; rs1137100 was negatively associated with PCOS in Tunisians after controlling for testosterone. In addition, rs2025804 was associated with increased PCOS risk among Tunisian but not Bahraini women, after adjusting for key covariates. Negative correlation was seen between rs1137101 and triglycerides in Tunisians, while homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulin correlated with rs2025804 and rs1137101 among Bahraini subjects, and rs1137101 correlated with estradiol and prolactin. Taking TAG haplotype as common, positive association of TAA and negative association of TGG haplotype with PCOS was seen among Bahraini women; no three-locus PCOS-associated haplotypes were found in Tunisians. Conclusions: The present study is the first to demonstrate the contribution of ethnicity to the association of LEPR gene variants with PCOS, thereby highlighting the significance of controlling for ethnicity in gene association investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the six indicator non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls NDL-PCBs (PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB138, PCB153, PCB180), as well as four organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and dichlorodiphenyldichlorethylene (DDE) were measured in 98 maternal and 49 cord sera samples of a group of Lebanese women who gave birth in three hospitals in Greater Beirut, between March and July 2018. Results showed that the levels of these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in maternal serum were below critical limits as well as those in other countries (Tunisia, France, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Greenland, Canada, Brazil, and China). The ratios of cord serum concentrations to maternal serum concentrations of analyzed POPs were higher than 1. PCB maternal serum concentrations were found to be linked to illegal incineration (OR = 5.78; p = 0.004) as well as eggs (OR = 4.68; p = 0.027) and fruits and vegetables consumption (OR = 3.92; p = 0.016). OCP concentrations were linked to red meat and cold cuts intake (OR = 3.67-4.59; p = 0.001-0.004). While PCB levels were not correlated to newborns anthropometric measurements, OCP levels in cord serum were found to be positively linked to the birth length of newborns (p = 0.014-0.027)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aim: Epidemiological studies suggested that ethnic/racial background influences the associations of altered leptin secretion and leptin gene (LEP) polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We investigated the association between LEP variants and plasma leptin levels with PCOS in Tunisian and Bahraini Arab women., Subjects and Methods: Retrospective case-control study, involving 255 PCOS cases and 253 control subjects from Bahrain, and 320 women PCOS cases and 447 controls from Tunisia. LEP genotyping was done by allele exclusion on real-time PCR., Results: Minor allele frequencies of rs10487506, rs7799039, rs2167270, rs12706832, and rs10954173 LEP variants were not significantly different between PCOS cases and control women among Bahraini and Tunisians, even before applying the Bonferroni correction. Similarly, the genotype distribution of the tested LEP variants was comparable between women with PCOS and control women among Bahraini and Tunisian subjects. None of the tested LEP variants was linked with altered leptin serum concentrations. However, five-locus haplotype analysis identified GGGGG and GAGGG haplotypes to be positively, and haplotype AAGGG to be negatively associated with PCOS in Bahraini women, after adjusting for HOMA-IR. No LEP haplotype associated with PCOS was identified in Tunisians., Conclusion: This is the first study to document differential contribution of LEP gene variants with PCOS according to ethnic/racial background of study subjects, highlighting the need for controlling for ethnicity in genetic association studies., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We assessed the prevalence of inherited (FV-Leiden and PRT G20210A), and acquired (anti-PL antibodies) risk factors among habitual aborters in Tunisia., Study Design: We studied prospectively 146 patients with > or =3 consecutive early, late, or early-late recurrent pregnancy losses, together with 99 age-matched controls. Anticardiolipin antibodies (ACL), lupus anticoagulant (LA), and APC resistance (APCR) were detected by ELISA, dilute Russell Viper Venom Time (dRVVT), and coagulation tests, respectively, and FV-Leiden and PRT G20210A genotypes were assessed by PCR., Results: Anti-PL antibody frequencies were 45 and 9% among patients and controls, respectively (P < 0.001), with positive LA only (P = 0.004), or combined elevated ACL-positive LA being consistently higher (P < 0.001) among patients than controls. FV-Leiden (20.54% versus 6.06%), but not PRT G20210A (2.74% versus 4.04%) was significantly higher in patients versus controls. Among LA-positive cases higher prevalence of G/A (14/146 versus 1/99) and A/A genotypes (4/146 versus 0/99) were seen, and among ACL-positive cases higher prevalence of G/A (10/146 versus 0/99) and A/A genotypes (2/146 versus 0/99) were recorded., Conclusions: Anti-PL antibodies and FV-Leiden, but not PRT G20210A, are associated with recurrent idiopathic pregnancy losses in Tunisian women.