New genetic causes linked to abnormal pregnancies and miscarriages

image credit: healthywomen.org

A team of scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University have identified three genes responsible for recurrent molar pregnancies, a rare complication that occurs when a non-viable pregnancy with no embryo implants in the uterus. The results of this study could have important implications, since until now very little is known about the genetic causes of all forms of fetal loss. Their study has recently been published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

In Quebec, molar pregnancy occurs in about one in every 600 pregnancies, and half of these are characterized by a total absence of maternal chromosomes. Due to an imbalance in the number of chromosomes supplied from the mother and the father, the placental tissue grows abnormally and forms a tumour, leading to a malignant cancer in approximately 15 to 20 per cent of cases. Molar pregnancy is the most common form of all placental diseases (or trophoblastic diseases).

"Our findings add three new genes to the list of mutations leading to fetal loss and will allow for more DNA testing for patients in order to prevent the recurrence of molar pregnancies and provide better genetic counselling and management for couples," says lead study author Dr. Rima Slim, who is a researcher in the Child Health and Human Development (CHHD) Program at the RI-MUHC and an associate professor of Human Genetics and Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University.

Embryos remember the chemicals that they encounter

image credit: discoveringsomethingnewtoday.blogspot.com

We all start out as a clump of identical cells. As these cells divide and multiply, they gradually take on distinct identities, acquiring the traits necessary to form, for instance, muscle tissue, bone, or nerves. A recent study from Rockefeller scientists offers new insight into how these cellular identities are cultivated over the course of development.

According to the study, published in eLife, cells retain a memory of the chemical signals to which they are exposed. And, the researchers show, embryos that fail to form these memories remain a clump of clones, never realizing their unique biological potential.

Activating embryos

Over 25 years ago, Ali H. Brivanlou demonstrated that the protein Activin causes embryonic frog cells to take on traits specific to certain tissue types, a process called differentiation. For decades now, Activin has been thought to instigate the transition from homogenous clump to specialized cells.

“Activin was the textbook definition of a molecule that is necessary and sufficient for differentiation,” says Brivanlou, the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor. “Researchers had shown that the dose of the protein determines cellular fate. At a very high dose, for example, you get gut and muscle; and at a very low dose, you get nerve tissue.”

Η θεραπεία για καρκίνο επηρεάζει τη γονιμότητα του ζευγαριού;

πηγή εικόνας: allianceforfertilitypreservation.org

Ο καρκίνος στο συλλογικό υποσυνείδητο έχει καταγραφεί ως μία ασθένεια φοβερή και εν πολλοίς ακατανίκητη. Μάλιστα συχνά χαρακτηρίζεται «επάρατος», δηλαδή απαίσια και καταραμένη.

Ο καρκίνος δεν είναι μία και μόνη ασθένεια, αλλά μία ετερόκλιτη ομάδα ασθενειών, που επηρεάζουν διάφορα συστήματα του σώματος. Κοινό χαρακτηριστικό των νόσων αυτών είναι ο παραφύσιν και ανεξέλεγκτος πολλαπλασιασμός ομάδας κυττάρων εις βάρος των φυσιολογικών κυττάρων ενός οργάνου ή συστήματος του σώματος.

Μάλιστα η ομάδα αυτή των καρκινικών κυττάρων ενδέχεται να διεισδύσει και σε όργανα γειτονικά του αρχικού ή ακόμα και σε απομακρυσμένες από αυτό περιοχές του σώματος, οπότε και έχουμε τις μεταστάσεις.

Ευτυχώς, στις ημέρες μας υπάρχει πλήθος θεραπειών για την αντιμετώπιση των δυσάρεστων αυτών καταστάσεων, οι οποίες περιλαμβάνουν τόσο χειρουργικές επεμβάσεις, όσο και σχήματα χημειοθεραπείας και ακτινοβολίας.

Τόσο το προσδόκιμο επιβίωσης των προσβληθέντων από καρκίνο, όσο και η ποιότητα ζωής τους έχουν βελτιωθεί σε σημαντικό βαθμό και με την πρόοδο των διαθέσιμων θεραπειών συνεχίζουν αδιάλειπτα να βελτιώνονται έτι περαιτέρω. Απόδειξη του γεγονότος αυτού είναι και η συζήτηση, που συχνά εγείρεται και αφορά τη γονιμότητά καρκινοπαθών νεαρής σχετικά ηλικίας.

Αποβολές: Αντιμετώπιση μέσω ειδικής -ανοσοτροποποιητικής- διατροφής

πηγή εικόνας: inhabitat.com

Ένα στα 200 ζευγάρια που προσπαθούν, σήμερα, να γίνουν γονείς έρχονται αντιμέτωπα με την οδυνηρή εμπειρία των συνεχόμενων αποβολών (σύνδρομο των καθ’ έξιν αποβολών).

Ένας από τους βασικούς «υπόπτους» στις περιπτώσεις αυτές είναι το ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα, το οποίο, κάτω από συγκεκριμένες συνθήκες, μπορεί να «σαμποτάρει» την ομαλή έκβαση της εγκυμοσύνης. Ωστόσο, τα νέα είναι καλά, καθώς η κατάσταση μπορεί να γίνει «φιλική» προς την κύηση, μέσω ενός ειδικού, εξατομικευμένου προγράμματος διατροφής.

Τι είναι τα ΝΚ κύτταρα και ποιος ο ρόλος τους στις αποβολές

Τα ΝΚ κύτταρα, τα αρχικά των οποίων προέρχονται από τις λέξεις Natural Killer cells ή αλλιώς φυσικά φονικά κύτταρα, ουσιαστικά είναι τα κύτταρα τα οποία συμβάλλουν στην άμυνα του οργανισμού και μας βοηθούν να ανταποκριθούμε σε ιώσεις (σκοτώνοντας τους ιούς) ή και σε περιπτώσεις καρκίνου (καταστρέφοντας τα καρκινικά κύτταρα). Όταν, όμως, τα ΝΚ κύτταρα είναι αυξημένα σε αριθμό ή έχουν μεγάλη τοξικότητα, αναγνωρίζουν το έμβρυο ως ξένο σώμα και επιτίθενται σε αυτό, προκαλώντας αποβολή ή αποτρέποντας την επιτυχία μιας εξωσωματικής γονιμοποίησης.

Κλινικές μελέτες έχουν καταδείξει ότι οι γυναίκες που τείνουν να αποβάλλουν, έχουν αυξημένα ΝΚ κύτταρα στη μήτρα καθώς και αυξημένα ΝΚ κύτταρα διάφορων υποκατηγοριών στο περιφερικό αίμα αλλά και αυξημένη γενικά δραστηριότητα των ΝΚ κυττάρων.

Is Climate Change Damaging Male fertility?

image credit: new-medical.net

Climate change could pose a threat to male fertility—according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

New findings published today in the journal Nature Communications reveal that heatwaves damage sperm in insects—with negative impacts for fertility across generations.

The research team say that male infertility during heatwaves could help to explain why climate change is having such an impact on species populations, including climate-related extinctions in recent years.

Research group leader Prof Matt Gage said: "We know that biodiversity is suffering under climate change, but the specific causes and sensitivities are hard to pin down.

"We've shown in this work that sperm function is an especially sensitive trait when the environment heats up, and in a model system representing a huge amount of global biodiversity.

"Since sperm function is essential for reproduction and population viability, these findings could provide one explanation for why biodiversity is suffering under climate change.

"A warmer atmosphere will be more volatile and hazardous, with extreme events like heatwaves becoming increasingly frequent, intense and widespread.

What is the ‘right’ age to have a child?

image credit: marrybaby.vn

Over the past three decades, there has been a steady increase in the average age of parents. Advances in fertility science mean that people can, literally, put their eggs or sperm on ice and delay the start of parenthood. Many large companies, such as Apple, Facebook and Google, now offer egg freezing to employees as part of their healthcare package. Putting off having a baby has never been easier or more socially acceptable. But is it a good thing?

There are three things to consider. Will your child be healthy? Will you get pregnant? How much will it cost?

Parents have a moral obligation to give their child the best start in life. But children born to mothers over the age of 35 and fathers over the age of 45 are at greater risk of having genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, which arguably affects the child’s quality of life.

Also, older parents are more likely to need assisted reproduction, such as IVF, which is associated with babies being born early or with low birth weight. Babies born via IVF are also at higher risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in later life.

New blood test detects early stage ovarian cancer

image credit: standardmedia.co.ke

Research on a bacterial toxin first discovered in Adelaide has led to the development a new blood test for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer—a disease which kills over 1000 Australian women and 150,000 globally each year.

The new blood test has the potential to dramatically improve early detection of the disease, although it will require further testing before it is available for clinicians.

A research team from the University of Adelaide and Griffith University have been studying the interactions between the toxin and an abnormal glycan (sugar) expressed on the surface of human cancer cells and released into the blood.

The team has now engineered a harmless portion of the toxin to enhance its specificity for the cancer glycan and used this to detect it in blood samples from women with ovarian cancer.