Scientists could be on the verge of a medical breakthrough that slashes the ‘big element of chance’ involved in IVF.
Currently, the fertility treatment has a success rate of up to 40 per cent.
Academics based at the University of California San Diego have now developed a new non-invasive that can assess the quality of lab-grown embryos.
At present, fertility doctors typically have to carefully analyse embryos to pick out ones with the best chance of success. This can involve taking biopsies or visually assessing them, both of which can be problematic.
The new technique, although still in its infancy, avoids interfering with the ‘delicate process’.
Currently, the fertility treatment has a success rate of up to 40 per cent. Around a third of IVF cycles among under-35s resulted in a live birth in 2019 in the UK. Yet this dropped to just 4 per cent in over-44s
Academics based at the University of California San Diego have now developed a new non-invasive that can assess the quality of lab-grown embryos. At present, fertility doctors typically have to carefully analyse embryos to pick out ones with the best chance of success. This can involve taking biopsies or visually assessing them, both of which can be problematic. The new technique, although still in its infancy, avoids interfering with the ‘delicate process’
Experts hope it could eventually be ‘used directly to predict positive IVF outcomes, such as successful births’.
Particles of genetic material, known as exRNAs, are left behind in petri dishes used to grow eggs that have been fertilised in the lab.
This allows scientists to inspect them without relying on biopsies of the embryos or visual characteristics.
Study co-author Professor Irene Su, who specialises in obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences, said: ‘Unfortunately, IVF success still involves a big element of chance.
‘But that’s something we’re hoping our research can change.
‘Right now, the best way we have to predict embryo outcome involves looking at embryos and measuring morphological characteristics or taking some cells from the embryo to look at genetic makeup, both of which have limitations.’
She added: ‘IVF is challenging enough as it is, so it was extremely important to us that our research didn’t interfere with this already-delicate process.
‘What we’ve done is more akin to looking at what’s left behind at an archeological site to help us learn more about who lived there and what they did.’
The researchers also identified around 4,000 different exRNA molecules for each of five different stages in an embryo’s development.
Using this range of molecules they were then able to measure the morphology — the form, shape and structure — of the embryo as accurately as more invasive tests, they said.
Professor Sheng Zhong, an expert in bioengineering from the university’s school of enginerring, said: ‘We were surprised by how many exRNAs were produced so early in embryonic development, and how much of that activity we could detect using such a minute sample.
While conception rates vary for individual women, statistics from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence show fertility levels generally begin to fall off by the late 20s and then rapidly decline from the mid-30s onwards
Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows the average age of mothers in England and Wales has increased since the 1970s, now reaching 30.9 years as of the latest figures
‘This is an approach where we can analyze a sample from outside a cell and gain an incredible amount of insight into what’s happening inside it.’
Writing in the journal Cell Genomics, the scientists acknowledged further research is vital to confirm whether their test can be used in real-world settings.
Around 55,000 Brits went through the gruelling process of IVF in 2021, latest figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) show.
The fertility treatment is often the go-to-method for couples, despite costing up to £5,000 for one cycle privately.
Success rates varied from 41 per cent for under-35s to six per cent for over-44s, according to its data.
Under current official guidelines, women under the age of 40 struggling to have a child should get three cycles of the fertility treatment on the NHS.
But in July MailOnline revealed only three parts of the country abide by this access criteria, developed 10 years ago.
The majority of health authorities, who are allowed to make their own access rules, offer only one cycle of IVF.
Some deny it to women over 35. Others even refuse to pay for the procedure if they or their partner already have any children.
