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The Role of Genetic Variation in the Lamin A/C Gene in the Etiology of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine (M.U., G.N., J.D., E.S., C.A., A.D.), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611; and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (R.S.L.), Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Margrit Urbanek, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Tarry 15-717, Chicago, Illinois 60611. E-mail: m-urbanek{at}northwestern.edu.

Objective: We performed this study to test the hypothesis that variation in the lamin a/c gene (LMNA) contributes to milder phenotypes of insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism, and/or metabolic syndrome associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Research Design and Methods: We resequenced the coding region, flanking intronic, and proximal promoter regions of the lamin a/c gene in 43 women with PCOS with evidence of upper-body obesity (waist circumference >88 cm) and identified 56 variants, two of which were nonsynonymous substitutions (lmna11 exon1 E98D; lmna24 exon 7 R455C). We genotyped 53 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (44 identified through resequencing and nine included to maximize informativeness of the entire gene) in 624 index (PCOS) cases and 544 controls of European ancestry. We tested for association between these variants and PCOS. In a subset of individuals, we also tested for association with metabolic syndrome and quantitative traits (body mass index, waist circumference, total testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, fasting glucose and insulin, low-density lipoprotein, and total triglycerides).

Results: After correction for multiple testing, none of the variants showed significant evidence for association with PCOS, the metabolic syndrome, or any of the quantitative traits tested.

Conclusions: Whereas these studies cannot exclude the role of genetic variation in the lamin a/c gene in isolated cases of PCOS, we can conclude that common variation in the lamin a/c gene does not contribute to the etiology of PCOS in women of European ancestry.