title: Specific gene expression differences in cumulus cells as potential biomarkers of pregnancy.
abstract: The development of an objective and accurate test that could help select embryos with the highest chance of achieving pregnancy in IVF procedures is an important goal of reproductive medicine. For this purpose, cumulus cell gene expression is being studied to find biomarkers of pregnancy. Several recent studies have proposed potential biomarkers of pregnancy expressed in cumulus cells; however, these have mostly not been validated on an independent set of samples. The aim of this study was to analyse the expression of EFNB2, RGS2 and VCAN genes proposed as biomarkers of pregnancy in cumulus cells by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression was evaluated in 43 individual cumulus cell samples, derived from a highly homogenous group of 43 women. The same protocol for ovarian stimulation was used for all women, and elective single embryo transfer was performed. Expression levels of RGS2 and VCAN did not differ between cumulus cells of implanted and non-implanted embryos. EFNB2 showed borderline higher expression in cumulus cells of non-implanted embryos, which is contradictory to previous studies. Altogether, the results of previous studies in which EFNB2, RGS2 and VCAN were proposed as biomarkers of pregnancy could not be replicated in our set of cumulus cell samples.
authors: Department of Human Reproduction, Division of Gynaecology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Šlajmerjeva 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Tanja
authors: T
authors: Burnik Papler
authors: Department of Human Reproduction, Division of Gynaecology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Šlajmerjeva 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Eda
authors: E
authors: Vrtačnik Bokal
authors: Clinical Institute of Medical Genetics, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Medical Centre, Šlajmerjeva 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Aleš
authors: A
authors: Maver
authors: Clinical Institute of Medical Genetics, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Medical Centre, Šlajmerjeva 3, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: lucalovrecic@gmail.com.
authors: Luca
authors: L
authors: Lovrečić
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D054885:Cumulus Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D036388:Ephrin-B2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D020710:RGS Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D056826:Single Embryo Transfer / Q000379:methods; D053675:Versicans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000601239:EFNB2 protein, human; D036388:Ephrin-B2; D020710:RGS Proteins; C087182:RGS2 protein, human; C508322:VCAN protein, human; D053675:Versicans
keywords: biomarker; gene expression; human cumulus cells; pregnancy prediction