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A preliminary study comparing the endometrial expression of inhibin, activin and follistatin in women with a history of implantation failure after IVF treatment and a control group.

Prakash A, Tuckerman E, Laird S, Ola B, Li TC, Ledger WL

Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. alkaprakash@hotmail.com

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of activin: beta A and beta B subunit and follistatin in endometrium of women with implantation failure (n = 10) and compare it with a fertile control group (n = 7). Immunohistochemical staining intensity for follistatin in the endometrial glandular epithelium from women with implantation failure were significantly lower than that in control women (P = 0.03). The decreased expression of follistatin in epithelial cells in the endometrium of women with implantation failure after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) may suggest that follistatin may play a role in the implantation process.

Published 14 February 2008 in BJOG, 115(4): 532-6; discussion 536-7.
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