Specific gene expression differences in cumulus cells as potential biomarkers of pregnancy

Abstract The development of an objective and accurate test that could help select embryos with the highest chance of achieving pregnancy in IVF procedures is an important goal of reproductive medicine. For this purpose, cumulus cell gene expression is being studied to find biomarkers of pregnancy. S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reproductive biomedicine online 2015-04, Vol.30 (4), p.426-433
Main Authors: Burnik Papler, Tanja, Vrtačnik Bokal, Eda, Maver, Aleš, Lovrečić, Luca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
biomarker
Biomarkers - metabolism
Cumulus Cells - cytology
Cumulus Cells - metabolism
Ephrin-B2 - genetics
Ephrin-B2 - metabolism
Female
Fertilization in Vitro - methods
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Profiling
human cumulus cells
Humans
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pregnancy
pregnancy prediction
RGS Proteins - genetics
RGS Proteins - metabolism
Single Embryo Transfer - methods
Versicans - genetics
Versicans - metabolism
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Summary:Abstract The development of an objective and accurate test that could help select embryos with the highest chance of achieving pregnancy in IVF procedures is an important goal of reproductive medicine. For this purpose, cumulus cell gene expression is being studied to find biomarkers of pregnancy. Several recent studies have proposed potential biomarkers of pregnancy expressed in cumulus cells; however, these have mostly not been validated on an independent set of samples. The aim of this study was to analyse the expression of EFNB2, RGS2 and VCAN genes proposed as biomarkers of pregnancy in cumulus cells by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression was evaluated in 43 individual cumulus cell samples, derived from a highly homogenous group of 43 women. The same protocol for ovarian stimulation was used for all women, and elective single embryo transfer was performed. Expression levels of RGS2 and VCAN did not differ between cumulus cells of implanted and non-implanted embryos. EFNB2 showed borderline higher expression in cumulus cells of non-implanted embryos, which is contradictory to previous studies. Altogether, the results of previous studies in which EFNB2, RGS2 and VCAN were proposed as biomarkers of pregnancy could not be replicated in our set of cumulus cell samples.
ISSN:1472-6483
1472-6491
DOI:10.1016/j.rbmo.2014.12.011