Ethnic-specific biomarkers may improve assisted reproduction success rates for Asian women

Key takeaways:

• Certain genetic mutations were linked to age at menarche and prevalent among Chinese and American women.
• Age at menarche was linked to timing of first pregnancy, with older ages for Japanese women.

Biomarker panels specific to different ethnicities may allow health care providers to better assess individuals women’s personal reproductive potential, according to a systematic review published in Reproductive Sciences.

“Our findings suggest that assisted reproductive techniques’ success rates could be improved, especially among Asian women, with the development of a personalized, ethnic-specific biomarker panel, which could enhance patient stratification to address every woman’s unique reproductive potential,” Huang Zhongwei, MBBS, PhD, MRCOG, clinician-scientist and assisted reproductive technologies specialist in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, told Healio.

Zhongwei and colleagues conducted a database search through PubMed and Embase and identified 128 studies that were associated with reproductive outcomes in women of different ethnic backgrounds. Researchers categorized several genetic mutations associated with female fertility, associated genes of interest and cohort demographics into three groups: age at menarche, ovarian reserve and IVF outcomes.

The analysis highlighted several candidate genetic biomarkers for Asian women.

L IN 28B mutations were associated with age at menarche and prevalent among both Chinese and American women. Age at menarche correlated with timing of one’s first pregnancy. Hawaiian women were the youngest (median age, 22.2 years) and Japanese women were the oldest (median age, 25 years) at first pregnancy. The FMR1 gene had the strongest association with ovarian reserve whereas BMP15, ESR1, INHA, PRIM and TMEM150B were associated with ovarian reserve to a lesser extent.

In addition, the network analysis highlighted a strong association between the genes FMR1, FSHR, ESR1, BMP15 and INHA via biological functions that affect the menstrual cycle, hypothalamic-pituitary axis and ovarian follicle development.

According to Zhongwei, women respond differently to assisted reproductive technology, and this systematic review found that ethnicity and genetic background can influence its success rate just like lifestyle factors and maternal age.

“We believe that future large multicenter studies, specifically in Asian populations, are needed to generate more precise data and representative analysis of the Asian genome, in particular for women’s reproductive health,” Zhongwei said.

For more information:

Huang Zhongwei, MBBS, PhD, MRCOG, can be reached at obgzwh@nus.edu.sg.