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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormone disorder in women. Studies have shown that the change in hormones is accompanied by variations in immunological B cells. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now established that the syndrome is not caused by B cells, the role of which remains unclear. The study is published in eLife.

Sons of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a twofold increased risk to develop obesity, according to a study published in Cell Reports Medicine. According to the researchers from Karolinska Institutet the findings highlight a previously unknown risk of passing PCOS-related health problems across generations through the male side of a family

To improve understanding of mental health, today’s symptom-based diagnoses need to be complemented with biological criteria accounting for differences between individuals and the sexes. A major EU-funded research project, coordinated by Uppsala University, will pursue an interdisciplinary path towards better strategies to protect vulnerable individuals from mental illness. Three research teams at Karolinska Institutet participate in the project.

An article in "Dagens Nyheter" (DN), on November 9, 2022, addresses why more women than men suffer from mental illness, such as depression and anxiety. It brings up various circumstances that may be important for why this is so, such as hormones, environment, expectations, as well as the tendency to seek help for mental health problems. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet participated as experts regarding these various factors.

While the drug tamoxifen reduces the risk of developing breast cancer and prevents recurrence, the side-effects cause many women to discontinue their treatment. A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm has now found that a much lower dose than the standard produces a good effect with fewer adverse reactions in women who have yet to enter the menopause. The study, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, can play a significant role in the treatment.

Basing their research on an unexpected interspecies difference between rats and mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have mapped a system in the brain that controls paternal behaviour towards offspring. A key component in this behaviour is the hormone prolactin, which prepares females for motherhood and has now been shown to control paternal behaviour as well. The study has been published in the journal Cell.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method that can make it easier for public authorities to assess the health risks of hormone-disrupting chemicals in the environment.

One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals – a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according to a study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Many nerve cells in the brain region hypothalamus have unexpected origins and go through complex development programs, where millions of neurons assemble into a precisely knit network by birth. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Medical University of Vienna published in the journal Nature. The findings may further our understanding of hormonal diseases and their origins, according to the researchers.

A drug that lowers levels of the male hormone testosterone in the body reduces the risk of men with pedophilic disorder sexually abusing children, a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry shows.

In a recent study, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet show that the estrogen receptor beta (ERß) affects nerve signals in the part of the brain that controls locomotor activity. The results highlight the importance of ERß and the female sex hormone estrogen in brain development and function, and that an imbalance of the hormone could contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Daughters of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are five times more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS as adults, and the generational transmission is driven by high androgen levels during pregnancy, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report. Their results, which are based on register-based and clinical studies as well as transgenerational animal studies, are published in Nature Medicine.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences have investigated the effects of testosterone supplementation in young athletically active women in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The results, which are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, show that there is a causal relationship between elevated male sex hormone levels and increased aerobic capacity in young women. There was also an increase in muscle mass but not muscle strength.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have investigated the long-term effect of hormonal therapy in women with the most common types of hormone-sensitive breast cancer. The results, presented in the journal JAMA Oncology, show that the treatment has a protective effect against distant metastatic cancer for both so-called Luminal A and Luminal B breast cancer subtypes, and a long-term effect for women diagnosed with Luminal A cancer.

Maternal obesity and androgen excess induce sex-specific anxiety in the offspring, according to a study on mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in The FASEB Journal. The findings may help explain why children born to mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have increased risk of developing anxiety later in life.

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have high levels of androgens in their blood, which has been assumed able to affect fetal development during pregnancy. An international team of researchers led from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has now identified a hormonal mechanism that might explain why women with PCOS run a higher risk of developing symptoms of mental ill-health, such as anxiety and depression, in adulthood.