Hepatocyte growth factor in polycystic ovary syndrome during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation

OBJECTIVE: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) regulates many physiological responses such as mitogenesis, angiogenesis and folliculogenesis. A relation between the concentrations of HGF in follicular fluid and oocyte maturation has been reported. We aimed to evaluate levels of HGF in follicular fluid in respect to the quality of oocyte and embryo in patients with PCOS and normal ovary during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles.METHODS: Total 168 follicular fluid samples and their oocytes from 59 patients (21 PCOS and 38 control) undergoing IVF treatment were evaluated. The levels of serum HGF and androgens were measured on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration and oocyte retrieval (OPU). The levels of follicular fluid HGF were measured by ELISA and mRNA expression of HGF receptor (c-MET) was detected by real-time PCR.RESULTS: The basal levels of serum androgens were higher in PCOS patients comparing to controls. Levels of serum HGF on the day of OPU were showed a 2.74 fold increase in PCOS group compared to the day of hCG, whereas 2.18 fold in control group. On the day of hCG and OPU, mean E2 and androgen levels were higher in PCOS group. Follicular fluid samples contained 86 fold higher amounts of HGF compared with those of serum. Fertilized oocytes (2PN) had significantly higher c-MET expression levels in follicular fluid than those of oocytes that failed to fertilize (p:0.034). The mean HGF levels in the follicular fluid was higher in Grade 1 embryos than Grade 2-4?s (p:0.03).CONCLUSION: Doubling of serum HGF levels on the day of OPU compared to the day of hCG suggest that LH may have a role in HGF synthesis. Higher HGF levels in follicular fluid of grade I embryos were shown a relation between HGF and quality of embryo in human. Significantly higher c-MET mRNA expression levels in fertilized oocytes suggest that HGF might play a role with the other known cytokines systems, in the fertilization success.