Break-Through Treatment For Male Infertility Brings New Hope

In a recent research conducted by Canadian scientists at the Queen's University have revealed a unique fertility treatment that could improve male infertility.

Researchers have found that the protein required to stimulate the process of fertilisation can now be re-created in the lab. This synthetic version called Pulmonary Artery Wedge Pressure (PAWP) could help trigger fertilisation. The research findings promise to diagnose and treat cases of male infertility where a patient's sperm is unable to initiate or induce activation of the egg to form an early embryo.

In a statement issued to the Queen's University, Dr. Oko (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) said, "PAWP is able to induce embryo development in human eggs in a fashion similar to the natural triggering of embryo development by the sperm cell during fertilization. Based on our findings, we envision that physicians will be able to improve their diagnosis and treatment of infertility, a problem that affects 10 to 15 per cent of couples worldwide."

Most infertility treatments are now done by injecting a single sperm directly into an egg. By supplementing the sperm with PAWP protein, medicos can improve the success rate of infertility treatments in the future.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2013 Annual Report on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, has recorded that only about 37% of treatments have led to successful pregnancies.

Researchers involved in the Queen's University study believe sperm cells' inability to initiate fertilization and trigger embryo development upon entering the egg account for much of the failure in ART and are hopeful their method could increase the rate of successful pregnancies.

Trends also show that the low rate of success may be due different factors in the male and female, which can also be linked to diet, lifestyle, exposure chemicals and possibly even tight underwear.

"The results of our study set the stage for further investigation of PAWP protein as a molecular marker for diagnosis and as a factor for improvement of infertility treatments," said Dr. Oko.

The finding is published in the FASEB Journal.



Source: Medindia