Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Obstet Gynecol. Feb 10, 2016; 5(1): 87-96
Published online Feb 10, 2016. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v5.i1.87
Apoptosis and endometrial receptivity: Relationship with in vitro fertilization treatment outcome
Yulia S Antsiferova, Natalya Y Sotnikova
Yulia S Antsiferova, Natalya Y Sotnikova, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Federal State Research Institute of Maternity and Childhood named V.N.Gorodkov, Ivanovo 153009, Russia
Author contributions: Antsiferova YS and Sotnikova NY contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yulia S Antsiferova, BD, PhD, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, Federal State Research Institute of Maternity and Childhood named V.N.Gorodkov, Myakisheva St, 5-24, Ivanovo 153009, Russia. niimid.immune@mail.ru
Telephone: +7-905-1558676 Fax: +7-493-2336256
Received: June 27, 2015
Peer-review started: July 7, 2015
First decision: August 26, 2015
Revised: November 9, 2015
Accepted: December 1, 2015
Article in press: December 2, 2015
Published online: February 10, 2016
Processing time: 218 Days and 18.7 Hours
Abstract

Apoptosis is an important process in the reconstruction of endometrium within the menstrual cycle. The balance between cell proliferation and apoptosis regulates the periodic repair and shedding of endometrial cells and leads to the menstruation or prepare the mucosal layer of endometrium for the implantation of the embryo. Many factors with pro- and antiapoptotic action, such as B cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 and inhibitors apoptosis proteins families, caspases, tumor necrosis factor receptors, phosphatase and tensin homolog, proliferator-activated receptor gamma, microRNAs and others are differently expressed in the endometrial tissue at phases of menstrual cycle. Receptivity of the endometrium at the period of “window of implantation” is associated with the significant increase of apoptosis in endometrium to allow the embryo to be successfully implanted. The impairment of apoptosis regulation in the endometrium at this period often is observed in infertile women with endometriosis, tubal factor, polycystic ovary syndrome, etc.. In many cases the impairment of apoptosis regulation in the endometrium is the main cause of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment failure in these patients. As of today, the exact mechanisms and factors mediating the apoptotic process in normal endometrium and in infertile women are not fully understood. Herein, the literature data concerning the endometrial apoptosis regulation in general, and in light of the influence of apoptosis upon IVF treatment outcome are reviewed. The possibility to use some parameters of endometrial apoptosis for prediction of the successful pregnancy achievement in women participating in IVF protocols also is discussed.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Endometrium; Receptivity; In vitro fertilization

Core tip: Endometrial receptivity depends on many factors and apoptosis regulation as well. Compromised fertility and in vitro fertilization (IVF) failure is often associated with the impairment of endometrial apoptosis during “window of implantation”. Understanding of the molecule mechanisms involved in apoptosis regulation in the infertile women might have a great value and let us to use them as predictors of endometrial dysfunctions to improve implantation rate in IVF program.