2023-09-09 04:00:45
According to the WHO, one in six people on the planet suffers from infertility.
Its prevalence varies little from one region to another and rates are similar in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.
Asherman Syndrome affects approximately 20% of women who resort to assisted reproduction treatments.
There are different health problems that women can face throughout their lives. One that is little talked about due to its low incidence is Asherman’s syndrome or intrauterine synechiae. It occurs when scar tissue forms in the uterus and occasionally the cervix. If the patient is looking for a pregnancy, the complexity increases and can complicate the development of the embryo.
Complications in women’s health
This condition It affects approximately 20 percent of women who resort to assisted reproduction treatmentssaid Dinorah Hernández Melchor, student of the Doctorate Program in Scientific and Technological Development for the Society of the To install Cinvestav.
The Infertility associated with damage to the function of the endometrium is difficult to treat. Therefore, Hernández Melchor has focused part of his thesis on evaluating the potential of mesenchymal stem cells to regenerate the endometrium and allow embryo implantation and pregnancy in women diagnosed with Asherman Syndrome.
During the menstrual cycle (lasting between 24 and 38 days) the endometrium is regulated by various hormones. This helps it grow and reach a thickness of seven to 11 millimeters, a necessary condition for the embryo to adhere, leading to pregnancy, which does not happen in women with the disease.
Furthermore, the existence of mesenchymal stem cells in the uterine cavity capable of migrating to the endometrium and promoting, between days 19 to 21 of the menstrual cycle, the adequate thickness of the tissue has been documented. In patients with the Asherman’s Syndrome This group of cells is diminished.
Proposed new treatment
Therefore, the research was based on the idea of implanting mesenchymal stem cells from another region of the body, in this case from adipose tissue or white fat. In addition to being a reservoir for this type of cells, it is easy to access, its extraction is low risk and the patient can be its own donor.
“We observed that, after several weeks after the application of mesenchymal stem cells, derived from adipose tissue in the uterine cavity, in 98 percent of the women who received the treatment, the endometrium reached the adequate thickness of at least seven millimeters; that is, the function of the tissue was repaired.”
In the research, 21 women diagnosed with Asherman’s Syndrome who had failed to conceive after multiple assisted reproduction treatments, of which 15 achieved pregnancy.
The study methodology consisted of extracting a fat sample from each patient to take to the laboratory and isolate the mesenchymal stem cells, which were delivered to the reproduction specialist, who subsequently applied them to the uterine cavity.
To validate the effectiveness of the treatment, the average thickness of the endometrium was evaluated after a few weeks through ultrasound, a method that allows creating two-dimensional or three-dimensional images of different structures of the body from ultrasound.
Part of the study was carried out in conjunction with a private institute specialized in fertility issues, with which Cinvestav has collaborated for some years through Esther López Bayghen Patiño, researcher at the Department of Toxicology, who is one of the co-directors of the thesis, together with América Padilla Viveros, assigned to the Doctorate Program in Scientific and Technological Development for Society.
Although, for the moment the research protocol included only a group of women diagnosed with Asherman syndrome, the idea is that in the future the treatment will be available to a broader public and thus address various conditions related to the endometrium or uterine cavity.
For the above, and once the safety and effectiveness of the procedure with mesenchymal stem cells has been demonstrated, in the final part of the thesis, Hernández Melchor seeks to propose a model for technology transfer of advanced therapies in Mexico in order to expand its scope.
It is noteworthy that, being a transdisciplinary investigation, the work also collects information about the regulation of this type of treatments, with stem or stem cells, at a national and international level.
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