Publication in Pharmacogenomics: Our latest study on poor ovarian response genetics

The prestigious international journal Pharmacogenomics, in its current issue, has released the latest Instituto Bernabeu research.

This research is a clear example of the desire of our medical team for customizing the treatments of each and every couple, who come to our clinic seeking solutions for their fertility problem.

This research shows an extensive review on which genetic variants affect ovarian response. In assisted reproduction treatments, ovarian stimulation is a key factor for the treatment success. In most cases the ovarian response is the right one; however in 9-24% of cases ovarian response is inadequate. A preliminary identification of these patients would be of great clinical benefit and may avoid the adverse effects of OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation) or poor ovarian response, allowing us to adjust the right dose for each patient before starting the treatment. Several predictive markers of ovarian stimulation have been proposed such as: age, ovarian reserve, hormonal status and smoking. In addition to these parameters the genetic variability could also be an important factor.

Pharmacogenetics is the discipline that studies the effect of genetic variability of an individual in response to certain drugs. And it has allowed us to identify variants in genes FSH receptor, LH, LH receptor, oestrogen receptor, AMH receptor, AMH, CYP19A, MTHFR, BMP15, GDF-9, SOD2 and p53 that could be inflicting in the ovarian reserve.

Our review shows that the progress being made in the field of molecular biology will allow predicting, which may be the response to certain drugs, in our case the ovarian response. So we can customize it before starting an assisted reproduction treatment and expect better results, as well as avoiding unwanted situations such as ovarian hyperstimulation or poor ovarian response.