Embryo 'chatter' clues to fertility

17 September 2013 Last updated at 05:20 ETBy James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

The "chemical chatter" that determines whether an embryo can implant in the womb has been detailed by scientists.

It is important for the lining of the womb to know if an embryo is healthy before allowing it to implant, but how this is done was unclear.

A study at the University of Southampton has shown the amount of a chemical, trypsin, helps determine whether an embryo implants.

It is hoped the discovery will lead to new fertility treatments.

When a sperm fertilises an egg and begins to divide and grow, the process does not always go smoothly.

"A lot of embryos have chromosomal abnormalities so there must be a mechanism to stop a pregnancy," fertility scientist Prof Nick Macklon told the BBC.

"So the question is how does the endometrium [the lining of the uterus] detect the quality?"

Chatter

Research to be presented at the Reproductive Biology conference at the University of Southampton shows chemicals given off by an early-stage embryo give the endometrium clues.

Trypsin seem to be critical. If the chemical is at the right level, then it changes the nature of womb to make it more inclined to accept the embryo. But if the levels are out, then the lining becomes stressed and less likely to accept.

Prof Macklon said: "With a good embryo then the good response is turned up to allow implantation, if there's a bad embryo then the endometrium responds to reject the embryo.

"We've identified the pathways which signal this change and this has a big clinical context as implant failure is still the major cause of IVF failure."

Better odds

He said large numbers of couple had fertility problems and that he hoped breakthroughs in understanding how an embryo implanted successfully could improve the odds in IVF.

Monitoring the signals given off by an embryo could help choose which ones to implant during IVF, although this idea has not yet been tested.

It could also help to explain recurrent miscarriage, which in some cases has been linked to women being "super-fertile" and accepting embryos that should be rejected.

However, research will have to progress carefully as forcing a poor quality embryo to implant would lead to serious problems.

Prof Siobhan Quenby, who is also a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "It's a really exciting mechanism, but the challenge is turning it into a treatment, I lie in bed at night thinking about how you would turn this into a treatment.

"It's beautiful science, but we're not there yet."

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Adult tissue 'sent back to embryo'

11 September 2013 Last updated at 17:05 GMT By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News Stem cells can become any tissue type in the body The living tissue inside an animal has been regressed back into an embryonic state for the first time, Spanish researchers say.

They believe it could lead to new ways of repairing the body, for example after a heart attack.

However, the study published in the journal Nature, showed the technique led to tumours forming in mice.

Stem cell experts said it was a "cool" study, but would need to be much more controlled before leading to therapies.

When an egg is first fertilised, it has the potential to develop into every tissue in the human body, from brain cells to skin.

That flexibility is lost as an embryo develops. However, transforming adult tissues back into an embryonic-like state may lead to treatments that can regenerate a weakened heart, or the light-sensing cells in the eye or even the brain after a stroke.

'Thought impossible'

The transformation has been done in a laboratory, by treating skin samples with a mix of chemicals or genetic modification.

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It will be a monumental task to prove this is safe as what you're doing is innately dangerous, but it is exciting as it's potentially a new strategy for regenerative medicine.”

End Quote Prof Robin Ali Institute of Ophthalmology Now scientists at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid have achieved the same results inside an animal.

"It is a surprising result, this was not expected, most of us thought that it would be impossible," lead researcher Prof Manuel Serrano told the BBC.

The research group used mice genetically modified to switch on, when they were given a specific drug, production of four chemicals shown to reverse a tissue's destiny in the laboratory.

Tissues were successfully transformed back into an embryonic state, but without further direction they rapidly developed into tumours.

Speaking on Science In Action on the BBC World Service, Prof Serrano said: "Of course this is not what we want for regenerative medicine.

"We want to turn back the clock in a controlled manner and this is something we have to work out in the future.

"We have to find conditions where we reprogramme only partially so that they acquire a plastic state and repair the tissue."

'Monumental task'

Prof Robin Ali, from the Institute of Ophthalmology in London, is using stem cell technology to rebuild the retina to restore sight. He said the "ultimate goal" would be some treatment that could regenerate the back of the eye, "but that is a long way off".

He added: "This is a really elegant study with important implications for the field.

"It will be a monumental task to prove this is safe, as what you're doing is innately dangerous, but it is exciting as it's potentially a new strategy for regenerative medicine."

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Overall it's very cool and potentially very exciting, but it has massive issues in terms of control”

End Quote Prof Chris Mason University College London The technique was able to turn the clock back further than any other stem cell technology, including stem cells taken from an embryo.

Previous techniques produce stem cells that make the tissues found in the body. This study could also make those needed to support an embryo in the womb, such as the placenta.

Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the MRC's National Institute of Medical Research, told the BBC that he could not see this technique leading directly to therapies, but rather improving scientific understanding.

"To me the interesting thing was the evidence that the cells correspond to an earlier stage of development.

"If we can repeat that with human cells, it would be incredibly useful and could have important research implications, such as understanding the placenta and how to help maintain a pregnancy."

Prof Chris Mason, a stem cell scientist at University College London, said: "Overall it's very cool and potentially very exciting, but it has massive issues in terms of control."

Instead he thought techniques that transformed cells in the body directly into the desired tissue would be better than going via stem cells.

"It's like a tree, instead of going down from a branch to the root and back up to a different branch, maybe we'll be able to jump from branch to branch."

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