IMR Press / FBS / Volume 15 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbs1503009
Open Access Original Research
Ribosomal, Telomere, and Mitochondrial Repeat Copy Number Variations in Female Genomes during Ovarian Stimulation and the Prediction of In Vitro Fertilization Outcome: A Pilot Study
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1 Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Research Centre for Medical Genetics (RCMG), 115478 Moscow, Russia
2 Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, 117997 Moscow, Russia
3 Physiology Department, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119991 Moscow, Russia
4 Moscow Research and Practical Centre for Narcology of the Department of Public Health, 109390 Moscow, Russia
*Correspondence: med-gen@mail.ru (Lev Nikolaevich Porokhovnik)
Front. Biosci. (Schol Ed) 2023, 15(3), 9; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbs1503009
Submitted: 16 June 2023 | Revised: 10 August 2023 | Accepted: 7 September 2023 | Published: 24 September 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Introduction: Individual risk assessment of assisted reproductive technologies is essential for personalized treatment strategies. Genetic and genomic indicators of the response to stress by cells could provide individual prognostic indicators for in vitro fertilization (IVF) success. Such indicators include the copy number of ribosomal genes (rDNA), which modulates the level of protein synthesis, and the abundance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which provides the cell with energy, while the content of telomere repeats (TRs) indicate the biological age. Materials and Methods: The contents of the three repeats in DNA isolated from blood leukocytes of 40 women before and after ovarian stimulation were assayed prior to IVF. Then, we divided the women into a successful IVF group, IVF+ (N = 17, 7 cases of twins), and a group of failed cases, IVF– (N = 23). The control group included 17 non-pregnant women with natural childbirth in the past. The nonradioactive quantitative hybridization (NQH) method was applied to assay the genome repeat contents. Results: The number of rDNA copies in the IVF+ group was significantly higher than in the IVF– group (p < 10-8). The number of mtDNA copies in the IVF+ group also exceeded those in the IVF– group (p < 0.001), whereas the TR content in the two groups differed, albeit, non-significantly (p < 0.03). Following the ovarian stimulation, the rDNA copy numbers did not change, while the contents of the mtDNA and TR varied significantly. Conclusions: This pilot study has shown that rDNA abundance in blood leukocytes can be considered a stable and effective predictor. Very low numbers of ribosomal repeat copies (<330) entail a high risk of IVF failure. However, a combination of numerous mtDNA and TRs, provided that rDNA content is not very low, increases the probability of multiple pregnancies.

Keywords
personalized infertility treatment
risk assessment
IVF prognosis
ribosomal genes
telomere repeat
mitochondrial DNA
copy number
Funding
FGFF-2022-0007/State assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education
Figures
Fig. 1.
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