A The increasing number of people They are waiting longer to have children. While there are many reasons why people want to put off that decision, About a third of couples If the girlfriend is over 35 years old, it will be difficult to get pregnant. This is because the reproductive process of women begins It decreases around that age.
But researchers of An ongoing clinical trial Claims that rapamycin, a drug commonly used to prevent failure of organ transplants, is a Women’s reproductive years up to five years.
This is based on earlier communication from a small pilot study that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
While it’s still too early to say if rapamycin could be the future of fertility treatment — we’ll have to wait two years for clinical trials to complete — there are reasons to be optimistic about the findings they report.
Several studies in mice have shown that rapamycin is beneficial for many aspects of aging – including fertility.
Future fertility can come before birth. While in the mother’s womb, the female gamete (egg) forms a “primordial follicle” surrounded by special cells in the ovaries. Each follicle contains a single egg until it is recruited for use in puberty.
Many follicles die even before birth. This means that every woman born will have all the follicles. This is known as “Egg stock“. This pre-established ovarian reserve can affect a person’s ability to conceive Throughout their breeding season.
During each menstrual cycle, dozens of follicles are recruited (selected) – but only one primary follicle releases the eggs for fertilization. Another recruit Folilex He will be humiliated. In the ovaries.
A woman according to her age, she Egg production decreases Until she has only a handful of good quality follicles left. At this time, some of the ovulatory hormones circulating in her body decrease, menopause begins.
Average age Menopause is 51 years – Although this can vary widely depending on a woman’s ovarian reserve. Some women experience it Early menopause (occurring before 45 years).
Even about 1% of women can experience it Premature menopauseOccurs before 40. Because menopause directly affects the reproductive process, early menopause greatly affects a woman’s parenting plan.
But if it is possible to delay the aging of the eggs, this can extend the woman’s chances of fertility. This is the thing. Rapamycin He might be able to.
Reuse of rapamycin
Rapamycin is a bacterial compound that allows cells to survive in the laboratory for a long time.
It is commonly used in organ transplant patients to weaken the immune system to prevent the body from accepting the new organ. It is also used to treat Certain vascular conditions By reducing cell growth (like a tumor).
Increasing evidence suggests that rapamycin may also have benefits in aging.
According to studies on rats Resistance to age-related muscle loss. The daily dose of rapamycin was also noted. Improve the lifespan of old mice by 10%.
Regarding fertility, studies have shown that the daily dose of rapamycin Delays egg aging and menopause in rats.
Aged female rats fed a diet containing rapamycin had an increased pool of primordial follicles—egg reserves.
Additionally, these mice had successful litters later in life. This suggests that rapamycin may have the potential to delay premature menopause in women.
But can the drug do the same in humans? This is what the research team has. He got up to investigate. The team recruited 50 women aged 35-45 who were in their perimenopausal period. A pilot study.
For three months, the women received either rapamycin or a placebo every week. Ovulation was monitored by transvaginal ultrasound and several blood tests to detect various ovarian hormones.
The researchers First results It was very encouraging – it is suggested that this drug can reduce the aging of the ovaries in women by 20% without any side effects. The researchers hope that this will be fertile for another five years.
Rapamycin may induce this positive effect by limiting the number of primordial follicles that are recruited and activated during the menstrual cycle.
In women who received rapamycin, only 15 follicles were recruited per menstrual cycle – compared to 50 in women of the same age. With less follicle recruitment, ovulation appears to be prolonged.
Previous studies on mice have shown that rapamycin It recruits smaller follicles.This can protect the egg supply.
Maintaining fertility
The size of the initial study cohort was small. But given the promising results the researchers say they got, it means they can now move on to the next phase of their trial – recruiting 1,000 women.
We hope that the initial results will be reconfirmed and that rapamycin will be shown in a peer-reviewed study to be an effective treatment for ovarian aging. Further studies are needed to investigate whether this reproductive period is longer.
But if the clinical trial shows that rapamycin is useful, it may help women with low ovarian reserve and women who want to prolong their fertility.
Moreover, this research highlights the potential of repurposing existing drugs to treat other conditions for women’s health and well-being. This is the thing. My team members and me They are also doing so at the University of Central Lancashire.
We are currently investigating whether repurposing commonly used diabetes drugs can improve the uterine lining and make it easier for an embryo to implant itself. We are also investigating these targets for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Stefan BerneLecturer, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire
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