Research by the Imperial College London has found, after studying the womb linings of over 100 women who were struggling to fall pregnant or who were suffering from recurrent miscarriages, that there may be an enzyme that increases fertility and miscarriage.
They refer to this enzyme as a ‘fertility switch’ – because it seems to ‘switch’ on fertility if high levels exist, and ‘switch’ off fertility (and therefore leads to miscarriage) if there are low levels of the enzyme present.
They say that this could explain otherwise ‘unexplained’ infertility in women – such women may have not enough levels of enzyme SGK1. Women with ‘unexplained’ infertility (i.e. women who do not have any obvious or apparent reasons, like polycystic ovary syndrome, for failing to get pregnant) account for about one in six women who are trying to get pregnant. About one percent of all women who are trying to conceive experience repeated miscarriage.
Lead researcher Professor Jan Brosens, said that the research paved the way for further work into how to reduce unexplained infertility and miscarriage:”I can envisage that in the future, we might treat the womb lining by flushing it with drugs that block SGK1 before women undergo IVF. Another potential application is that increasing SGK1 levels might be used as a new method of contraception.”
Infertility is defined as failure to conceive over a two year period or longer. It is believed to affect somewhere between nine and fifteen percent of women worldwide, more than half of whom will see a doctor with a view to improving their chances of falling pregnant.
The women in the study were found to have high levels of SGK1 if they were struggling to fall pregnant, whilst those with low levels of SGK1 were the ones who were suffering from recurrent miscarriages.
The researchers did some more tests, this time involving mice, and found that the levels of SGK1 fall naturally during the ‘fertile window’ (i.e. during the period of time in which it is biologically possible to fall pregnant normally). The researchers concluded that this natural decline in the enzyme was vital to allow embryos to be received by the uterus and develop into foetuses. They said that treatment to enable conception (which might involve blocking SGK1) would have to be carefully balanced so that enough SGK1 was allowed in the womb to ensure that the pregnancy ‘took’.
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