In vitro modulation of endometrial cells by embryonic secretome using IVF and ICSI derived embryos

Nation-wide, infertile couples (~20% of married-couples) experience enormous emotional, socioeconomic and cultural burden due to their childlessness-state and the attached social-stigma (Freeman et al., 1987; Guerra et al., 1998). To overcome this, they seek ART, as promising infertility therapy option (other than child adoption). Conservative estimate shows that there areapproximately 385 nationally (ICMR) registered ART centers (~900 un-registered) which provide paid-services. Unfortunately, the success rates of clinical pregnancy (~25%) and live births (<15%) have continued to be poor. Among other factors, the loss of biological viability of cultured 2-4-cell embryos or blastocysts contributes to the substantial post-ET embryonic loss. Besides, in ART-based pregnancies, obstetrical complications due to doublet/triples are higher (Alfarawati et al. 2011; Sandalinas et al., 2001). To mitigate these issues, there is an urgent unmet need to develop new (novel) cost-effective, non-invasive, point-of-care (PoC), molecular diagnostics to accurately predict potential biological viability and to select such viable-embryos for ET. The success rate can also improve by selecting competent gametes and enhancing the implantation process of embryos.