A Big goal in IVF research is a test that reliably sorts dud embryos from those likely to develop into babies. Now differences in gene expression that seem to predict which embryos will go to term are bringing this a step closer.
Doctors usually decide which embryos to transfer to the uterus based purely on their appearance. Yet as only about 30 per cent of them fully develop, women often undergo multiple treatments or have several embryos implanted at once, which carries risks to both the mother and her embryos.
To try to improve the selection process, Gayle Jones at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues removed cells from the early embryos of 48 women undergoing IVF in Greece, 25 of whom went on to have babies. By comparing the babies' DNA and the genetic material in the early embryonic cells, the researchers identified 7317 sets of genetic instructions expressed by the viable embryos but not by those that failed to go to term (Human Reproduction, DOI: 10.1093/humanrep/den123).
They now hope to whittle down the list to about 10 genes that strongly predict which embryos will become babies. A test could be ready for use by doctors in two years, they say.
