Gene-Profiling Assists Women Over 45 To Conceive

Scientists have identified a genetic profile which enables women over 45 years-of-age to conceive. The genes could delay the aging of the ovaries.

Researchers from the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem presented their findings to the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in Copenhagen. Their analysis should deepen the knowledge of aging processes and eventually establish new opportunities for the fertility treatment of elderly patients.

Neri Laufer and his team analyzed a group of 250 women above the age of 45 who had naturally become pregnant. Normally women of this age are not fertile anymore, because their ovaries are too old.

The Israeli scientists believe they are on track toward a breakthrough not just because these women conceived, or because impregnations were successful, but also because of the low rate of miscarriages.

The researchers chose eight test subjects whose gene expression, which means the production of proteins due to genetic information, was analyzed by means of a blood sample and compared with the ones of six early mothers.

The analysis showed that the eight mothers over the age of 45 were disposed of a special genetic pattern which is not found in the group of younger mothers. The scientists believe genes might play an important role for the apoptosis and DNA-repair-mechanisms.

These women have a “genetic aging protection” which also keeps their ovaries active, explained Laufer. It is not known if this disposition was generally associated with a higher life expectancy.

The identification of this genetic pattern could help physicians to estimate if elderly women were principally able to conceive babies naturally or if they’d need a fertilization treatment.

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