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Biomarkers for infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss
Impairment of placental vascularization is often caused by thrombophilias, which in turn can lead to recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and IVF failure (Ivanov et al., 2012). Impaired placental vasculature has been associated with individual maternal factors such as factor V Leiden and factor II prothrombin. A set of four variants in the annexin5 (ANXA5) gene, the M2 haplotype, has been shown to increase the risk of RPL (Bogdanova et al., 2007; Chinni et al., 2010). The protein encoded by ANXA5 is an anticoagulant that is found at the boundary between the maternal and foetal circulations and thus may affect placental vasculature.Past performance of assisted reproduction technologies as a model to predict future progress: a proposed addendum to Moore’s law
The ultimate goal of IVF is to achieve healthy, single, live births following each single-embryo transfer. A timeline for this eventuality has never been defined. National implantation rates from 2003–2010 provided by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART) in the USA were evaluated. Regression analysis was applied to the annual trends. A high correlation was noted showing a linear increase from year to year ranging between 0.3% and 1.5% when maternal age was not higher than 42.
