New hopes for low-cost fertility treatment in hormone breakthrough

A new study by Adelaide researchers may lead to low-cost fertility treatments. Source: News Limited

ADELAIDE researchers have discovered how a hormone vital to fertility is produced, which they hope will lead to low-cost fertility treatments.

University of Adelaide researcher and project leader Professor Sarah Robertson said her team had discovered that immune cells known as M2 macrophages were critical to fertility because they promote the production of progesterone - a crucial hormone for embryo implantation and the initiation of pregnancy.

"It's a breakthrough in the understanding of basic biology ... it's not a breakthrough yet in a treatment but it gives us a new angle to tackle," she said.

"Previous research has demonstrated that macrophages are prevalent in reproductive tissues, but this is the first time that their absolute necessity for pregnancy has been demonstrated."

The researchers hope they can develop their understanding, which has so far included animal testing, to help the one-in-six couples who experience fertility problems.

"If we can come up with better ways of improving fertility that don't necessary involve IVF, then that is a good thing for everybody in terms of cost and less complicated treatments for women."

She said the cause of infertility could not be established in about half of all couples who seek fertility treatment.

"We think this new discovery is giving us really an insight into the proportion of women whose fertility we haven't understood before," Prof Robertson said.

She said the M2 macrophage cells organise the quick development of blood vessel networks in the ovary so it can then produce enough progesterone to establish pregnancy. Insufficient numbers of the M2 macrophage cells affect the production of progesterone, which can prevent an embryo from implanting or cause it to implant poorly, which may later lead to miscarriage.

"This is the first time that we have understood how pivotal macrophages are for conception and establishing pregnancy," Prof Robertson said.

She said the importance of progesterone was already known.

But she said it was hoped more natural means could improve fertility.

Prof Robertson said environmental factors such as obesity, infection and stress all contributed to an inflammatory response which affects the generation and function of the M2 macrophage cells in women.

She said women should address those factors to aid fertility.

"If macrophages are shown to play the same role in women as we've seen in our laboratory studies, this gives us potential new avenues for targeting them with lifestyle and nutritional intervention, improving fertility by advancing the quality of the conception environment."

The study, published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, was the five-year PhD project of student Alison Care.

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