Fig 1.
Flowchart of the process for identifying PCOS-specific differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and related pathways.
Table 1.
Datasets used for meta-analysis.
Fig 2.
(A) Venn diagram of DEGs for PCOS and control groups obtained from meta-analysis with 1372 genes defined as PCOS specific and 18 genes in common. (B) Pathway enrichment analysis of the 1372 PCOS-specific DEGs.
Fig 3.
Hierarchical clustering of samples from meta-data and MAPK signaling pathway-related genes, differentially expressed in the meta-analysis study between MGCs and CCs in PCOS group.
Cumulus cells were successfully grouped in Group 1, in which expression of MAPK signaling pathway related genes was downregulated.
Fig 4.
Relative expression of candidate genes (FZD3, INSR, PTPRC, RUNX2 and JUNB) obtained from qRT-PCR analysis.
The validation study was performed with 12 independent patients who provided two somatic cell types: CC and MGC. Relative expression values for each gene is shown on the y-axis in arbitrary units. The data are presented as mean ± SEM. Asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference (p<0.05) in gene expression between granulosa and cumulus cells.
Fig 5.
Relative expression values and heatmap figure of MAPK signaling pathway-related genes.
(A) Relative expression values obtained from qRT-PCR analysis for each gene are shown on the y-axis in arbitrary units. The data were obtained from 12 independent PCOS patients. Each patient provided both cell types, CC and MGC. The data are presented as mean ± SEM. Asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference (p<0.05) in gene expression between granulosa and cumulus cells. (B) Hierarchical clustering analysis was performed with qRT-PCR data. The CCs (C) and MGCs (G) were grouped according to the expression profiles of three MAPK signaling genes. Their expression levels were lower in CCs than MGCs.