In Vitro fertilization: kisspeptin instead of gonadotropin?
"The squirrel of kisses"
Tatiana Shcheglova, Copper news based on The Guardian: Hormone breakthrough offers hope of safer fertility treatment
In San Francisco, at the annual conference of the Society of Endocrinology ENDO 2013, the results of the first clinical trials of a new, safer than the current method of ovarian stimulation before IVF using the hormone kisspeptin were presented. According to experts, the success of the tests, expressed, among other things, in the birth of the first baby conceived thanks to the new method, will be the beginning of a new era in the world of assisted reproductive technologies.
The hormone kisspeptin ("kissing protein"), encoded by the kiSS-1 gene, was discovered in 1999. The gene got its name thanks to the well–known products of the American Hershey chocolate company - Hershey's Kiss candies. The laboratory where the discovery was made was located near the town of Hershey in Pennsylvania, where the company of the same name is also based.
It was found that this naturally produced substance in the body triggers the process of puberty in adolescence and is subsequently responsible for regulating the reproductive function of the body. Kisspeptin increases the activity of hypothalamic cells that secrete the hormone gonadoliberin, which, in turn, controls the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), on which the occurrence of ovulation depends, and, consequently, the possibility of conception.
In 2009, a study was conducted at Imperial College London on the possibility of restoring reproductive function with kisspeptin in women with low levels of sex hormones, which showed good results. The use of the hormone led to a 48-fold increase in the level of LH and a 16-fold increase in the level of FSH in the subjects, which led to the conclusion that kisspeptin allows you to gently "wake up" the reproductive system, while allowing the natural regulatory and protective mechanisms of the body to work.
Usually, another hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, is used to stimulate egg maturation during the IVF program, which is secreted in the body of pregnant women and therefore acts more rigidly and for a long time, overly activating the ovaries. In about five to ten percent of cases, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) occurs – a life–threatening complication aggravated by the presence of polycystic ovaries, in which there is a significant increase in the size of the ovaries with a possible rupture of cysts, and there may also be other life-threatening manifestations, in particular blood vessel thrombosis.
In July 2012, specialists from Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital began conducting clinical trials of kisspeptin on a group of 30 women with perfectly healthy ovaries, among whom was 34-year-old Suzanne Kidd, who had already undergone a standard IVF procedure two years before, as a result of which she gave birth to a son. Injections of kisspeptin caused ovulation in 29 participants, embryos were successfully obtained in 28 of them as a result of artificial insemination, and pregnancy was recorded in 11 participants on the 12th day after the embryo was transferred into the uterine cavity. Suzanne Kidd became the first of the participants in the trials, who gave birth to a child nine months later. Her perfectly healthy son Heath, weighing 3,243 grams, was born in April 2013.
According to experts, the success of the first clinical trials of kisspeptin indicates the advent of an era of safer IVF, which does not expose a woman's health to the risk of OHSS. To finally verify the effectiveness of kisspeptin and its ability to reduce the likelihood of complications, scientists intend to continue testing it, this time on a group of women at risk, in particular those suffering from polycystic ovaries.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru19.06.2013