Conditions: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Keywords: PCOS
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 8
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the major cause of infertility in the United States. Many women with PCOS demonstrate insulin resistance and a compensatory hyperinsulinemia.This is due to both an intrinsic form of insulin resistance unique to PCOS and, in many cases, acquired insulin resistance due to obesity. The importance of this observation lies in the fact that hyperinsulinemia appears to play an important pathogenetic role in the hyperandrogenism and anovulation of both obese and lean women with PCOS.

Detailed description:
Hyperinsulinemia stimulates ovarian production of androgens, especially testosterone, in PCOS. Therefore, it is theoretically possible that testosterone increases urinary clearance of D-chiro-inositol (uCl(DCI) in PCOS, and that this serves as the explanation for the correlation between uClDCI and insulin sensitivity. While we regard this possibility as unlikely, it is important that it be tested. To accomplish this, we will assess obese (Body Mass Index (BMI) \>30 kg/m2) women with and without PCOS at baseline, and again after 4 weeks of androgen action blockade with the drug flutamide. Flutamide is an antiandrogen that works by blocking the binding of androgens to the androgen receptor.

We will determine if this pharmacologic blockade i) decreases the renal clearance of DCI, ii) increases the circulating concentration of DCi, and iii) enhances the insulin-stimulated release of the D-chiro-inositol-containing inositolphosphoglycan (DCI-IPG) mediator during an OGTT.

Arms:
arm 1: Flutamide arm 2: control to arm 1

Interventions: intervention 1: Flutamide intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 250 mg twice daily for 4 weeks intervention 2: Placebo twice daily for 4 weeks

Protocol document: