The Cytokine Paired Footprint of Successful Implantation

Rationale:

Failure of the transferred embryo to implant remains the most important limiting factor determining IVF success rates. It is hypothesed that implantation failure following IVF treatment may be caused by abnormal cytokine expression by embryos and endometrium and by subclinical bacterial vaginosis. Analysis of cytokine expression in the culture media of embryos and in the endometrium during 'the window of implantation' offers the opportunity to study the cross-talk between the embryo and endometrium and identify optimal cytokine expression patterns. Increased knowledge of cytokine interaction and the impact of bacterial vaginosis on cytokine expression may serve as the basis from which to develop and apply treatment regimens to improve embryo selection and endometrial preparation.

Objective:

The aim of this study is to identify pre-implantation endometrial and embryo cytokine expression profiles associated with successful and unsuccessful implantation.

Study design: