Northwestern University was awarded over $5 million by the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health to establish a Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) to study polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a disorder associated with irregular menstrual periods, infertility, excessive body hair and increased risk for diabetes. The SCORs represent an important NIH initiative in women’s health. www4.od.nih.gov/orwh. SCORs are designed to increase the transfer of basic research findings into clinical practice by housing laboratory and clinical studies under one roof.
Northwestern was one of 11 leading medical institutions selected as SCOR sites on the basis of having at least three highly meritorious research projects that explore an important issue related to sex/gender health differences. The NU SCOR has four highly interactive research projects. Andrea Dunaif, M.D., Charles F. Kettering Professor and chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, and Professor of Medicine at The Feinberg School of Medicine, is the principal investigator on the SCOR. Jonathan E. Levine, Ph.D., Director, Training Program in Reproductive Biology; Professor, Department of Neurobiology & Physiology; Director, Program in Biological Sciences; is the Associate Director of the Center. Margrit Urbanek, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine and Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, are the PIs on the other two projects. The Research focuses on the role of genes, androgens [male hormones] and intrauterine environment in PCOS. The goal of the study is to elucidate the pathogenesis of PCOS and provide the potential for molecular diagnosis of the syndrome. The SCOR includes investigators from the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Cell and Molecular Biology and the Center for Genetic Medicine at the Feinberg College of Medicine and from the Department of Neurobiology and Physiology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, and includes faculty based at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder of premenopausal women, and results in male hormone excess and irregular periods. It is the leading cause of hormonally-related infertility and is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus in both adolescent and young adult women. It also often associated with obesity and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. When left untreated, it can result in endometrial cancer. PCOS has a substantial negative impact on quality of life because of the disorder’s multisystem morbidities. Clearly, PCOS is an overarching women’s health problem affecting women throughout their life span. Furthermore, since type 2 diabetes and obesity have now reached epidemic proportions in the US, and cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in women, PCOS plays a key role in the foremost causes of death and disability in US women. For more information regarding PCOS, please visit the following websites: www.pcosupport.org and www.hormone.org. For information about research study participation, call 1-800-847-6060 or e-mail pcos@northwestern.edu. The cause of PCOS remains unknown. However, we have already found a gene region that is associated with the condition. The goals of this SCOR are to identify the gene in this region and to determine how this gene results in reproductive abnormalities and increased risk for diabetes. We have evidence that one way this gene may result in these problems is by causing a female baby to produce male hormones during pregnancy. To investigate this possibility, we will determine whether we can produce features of PCOS in animals by giving them male hormones before they are born. These studies will provide a better understanding of how PCOS develops. These studies also promise to identify a gene for PCOS, which likely also causes diabetes and obesity. This research will not only lead to new therapies but also to genetic testing for and prevention of PCOS. |
