Determining and Improving Human Egg Quality using microRNAs.

C15916 Marketing Summary
Unmet Need
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10% of women (6.1 million) ages 15-44 have difficulty getting pregnant and may turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART), including in vitro fertilization (IVF), for help. Of the 300,000 ART cycles performed in the United States in 2017, only 35% of them resulted in a live birth. ART cycles are predominantly unsuccessful due to implantation of low quality embryos with chromosomal abnormalities. Currently, embryonic health is largely determined by subjective morphological and visual analysis that does not provide information on if the embryo will successfully implant and gestate. ART procedures incur high costs ($10,000-20,000 per cycle), insurance policy issues, and immense emotional burden for the individual, family, and reproductive endocrinologists/fertility experts. There is a strong need for objective analysis of the quality of human eggs prior to choosing an oocyte for ART procedures.
Technology Overview
The Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an objective method for determining the quality of human oocytes, thereby boosting the success rate of ART procedures, by determining microRNA changes in cells surrounding the oocyte. They examined which microRNAs were differentially expressed in aging and young women and identified significant changes in 20 microRNAs in women less than 35 and above 40 years of age. High-throughput PCR was used to validate the changes in microRNA expression. This novel finding can be used to create a diagnostic kit to identify high-quality oocytes for IVF. These microRNAs may also be added to culture media to potentially improve the quality of human oocytes. This will, in turn, improve the success rates of the ART procedures worldwide and provide an objective way to determine which egg has the best success rate of developing into an embryo and ultimately lead to a healthy baby.
Stage of Development
The inventors have identified microRNAs that are significantly associated with healthier embryos.
Publications
Manuscript in preparation.
 

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