Endometrial gene expression reveals compromised progesterone signaling in women refractory to embryo implantation

Abstract

© 2014 Tapia-Pizarro et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Background: Endometrial function is essential for embryo implantation. The aim of this study was to analyze gene expression profiles from individual endometrial samples obtained from women with repeated implantation failure after IVF in oocyte donation programs. Methods: Seventeen volunteers were recruited: women who had previously participated as recipients in oocyte donation cycles and repeatedly exhibited implantation failure (Group A, study group, n = 5) or had at least one successful cycle (Group B, control group, n = 6) and spontaneously fertile women (Group C, normal fertility group, n = 6). An endometrial cycle was induced with exogenous estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) and an endometrial sample was collected on the seventh day of P treatment. Results: Transcriptome analysis showed 82 genes with consistent differential gene expression when comparing A vs. B and A vs. C. One hundred transcripts differentially expressed