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Purpose: Whether the dominant status of vaginal Lactobacillus is associated with IVF/ICSI outcomes. Methods: This is a propensity score-matched retrospective cohort study consists of 2285 women undergoing their first fresh autologous IVF cycles. We divided the patients into the Lactobacillus-dominant group and non-Lactobacillus-dominant group based on the abundance of Lactobacillus in Gram-stained vaginal smear examined by microscopy. We compared IVF outcomes between the two groups. We matched Lactobacillus-dominant women with non-Lactobacillus-dominant women by propensity score (PS) to reduce the impact of confounding factors. We evaluated the effect of vaginal Lactobacillus on live birth using univariate and multivariate analysis models. We also conducted interaction and stratified analyses. Results: Compare to the Lactobacillus-dominant group, the biochemical pregnancy rate (50.12% vs. 57.61%, P = 0.03), clinical pregnancy rate (40.98% vs. 50.82%, P < 0.01), and live birth rate (31.83% vs. 41.22%, P < 0.01) were significantly lower in the non-Lactobacillus-dominant group, the preclinical pregnancy loss rate (18.22% vs. 11.79%, P = 0.05) and preterm birth rate (33.09% vs. 21.59%, P = 0.02) were significantly higher in the non-Lactobacillus-dominant group. However, the miscarriage rate (18.86% vs. 15.67%, P = 0.40) and ectopic pregnancy rate (1.41% vs.1.64%, P = 0.78) were similar between the two groups. Loss dominance of Lactobacillus in the vagina was an independent risk factor for live birth (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.50–0.88). Conclusions: Loss dominance of Lactobacillus in the vagina negatively affects IVF outcomes by decreasing the chances of pregnancy and live birth, increasing risks of preclinical pregnancy loss and preterm birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the associations between polymorphisms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with recurrent implantation failure (RIF). Methods: We performed the systematic review and meta-analysis by searching databases of PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) for studies that evaluated the associations between VEGF polymorphisms with RIF. Meta-analysis was performed if the polymorphism was studied by more than two case–control studies. Data were analyzed using R software. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported to assess the associations. Results: Nine VEGF polymorphisms (−1154G > A, −460T > C, +405G > C, −7C > T, −634C > G, −2578C > A, +936C > T, 5C > T, −583C > T) were systematically reviewed. Meta-analysis was performed on VEGF −1154 G > A polymorphism. Three case–control studies consisted of 683 women were included in the quantitative meta-analysis (305 RIF patients and 378 controls). Results showed that VEGF −1154A allele was significantly associated with RIF (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.08–1.78, P-value = 0.01). The dominant genetic model showed that VEGF 1154AA plus VEGF 1154AG genotypes were more frequent in RIF patients than VEGF 1154GG genotype (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.10–2.20, P-value = 0.01). However, the result under the recessive genetic model showed no significant difference (OR 1.67, 95% CI 0.92–3.03, P-value = 0.09). Conclusion: VEGF −1154A allele may serve as one of the predisposing factors of RIF. Women with VEGF 1154 AA/GA genotypes were at higher risk of RIF. However, we should consider the haplotype effect of VEGF polymorphisms in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate whether polymorphism of MTHFR C677T or MTHFR A1298C is associated with recurrent implantation failure (RIF). Study Design: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pubmed, EMBASE, and CNKI (China national Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched for case–control studies that evaluated the associations between MTHFR polymorphisms (MTHFR C677T and MTHFR A1298C) and RIF. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported to evaluate the strength of association. Data were synthesized using the random-effect model. Results: Nine case–control studies consisted of 1812 women were included in the quantitative meta-analyses (754 were RIF patients, 1058 were control participants). The synthesized results showed that polymorphism of MTHFR C677T (allele model: OR 1.23, 95% CI 0.99–1.53; dominant model: OR 1.24, 95% CI 0.99–1.54; recessive model: OR 1.31, 95% CI 0.78–2.12; homozygotic model: OR 1.39, 95% CI 0.84–2.28; heterozygotic model: OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.90–1.45) or MTHFR A1298C (allele model: OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.78–1.59; dominant model: OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.65–1.26; recessive model: OR 2.04, 95% CI 0.90–4.64; homozygotic model: OR 1.86, 95% CI 0.79–4.38; heterozygotic model: OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.59–0.99) was not significantly associated with RIF. Conclusions: Significant association of MTHFR polymorphisms (including MTHFR C677T and MTHFR A1298C) and RIF could not be confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the role and underlying mechanism of H19 in regulating angiogenic capacity of extravillous trophoblasts.Methods: Gain and loss of function experiments were performed using a human first-trimester extravillous trophoblast (EVT) cell line, HTR-8/SVneo cells. H19 was overexpressed or knocked down in HTR-8 cells by transfecting plasmid harboring whole-length H19 sequence (pH19) or siRNA specially targeting H19, respectively (siH19). Cell migration and tube-formation assay were assessed in the indicated groups. Gene expression was detected by RT-qPCR, Western blot, and ELISA assay.Results: Overexpression of H19 in EVT cells increased cell migration and tube formation, while downregulation of H19 in EVT cells decreased cell migration and tube formation. Furthermore, we found that H19 played its role by VEGFA. In addition, we demonstrated the H19/miR-106a-5p/VEGFA regulatory axis in EVT. Experiments of the clinical specimen showed that H19 was very abundantly expressed in human first-trimester trophoblasts, and we found that the expression of H19 and VEGFA were significantly downregulated in the villous tissues from idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (RM) patients; moreover, the expression of H19 and VEGFA was positively correlated.Conclusion: H19/miR-106a-5p/VEGFA axis plays a role in regulating the angiogenic capacity of EVT, which might contribute to idiopathic RM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To detect the expression level of imprinted gene H19 in the endometrium of patients with repeated implantation failure (RIF) who were undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or frozen embryo transfer (FET).Methods: Patients who underwent IVF/FET in Reproductive Medicine Center of Xiangya Hospital during April 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015 were chosen. The endometrium was collected from patients with repeated implantation failure during mid-luteal phase. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot were used to determine the expression of H19 lncRNA and integrin β3 protein. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 19.0.Results: When compared with the control group, decreased expression of H19 was detected in the RIF group (P = 0.04). The expression of integrin β3 protein was also decreased in the RIF group compared to that in the control group (P = 0.04). The expression of H19 lncRNA was positively correlated with the expression of integrin β3 protein (R = 0.477, P = 0.018).Conclusions: The expression of H19 lncRNA and integrin β3 protein were down-regulated in the RIF patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]