Multiomics insights into the female reproductive aging

The human female reproductive lifespan significantly diminishes with age, leading to decreased fertility, reduced fertility quality and endocrine function disorders. While many aspects of aging in general have been extensively documented, the precise mechanisms governing programmed aging in the female reproductive system remain elusive. Recent advancements in omics technologies and computational capabilities have facilitated the emergence of multiomics deep phenotyping. Through the application and refinement of various high-throughput omics methods, a substantial volume of omics data has been generated, deepening our comprehension of the pathogenesis and molecular underpinnings of reproductive aging. This review highlights current and emerging multiomics approaches for investigating female reproductive aging, encompassing genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics. We elucidate their influence on fundamental cell biology and translational research in the context of reproductive aging, address the limitations and current challenges associated with multiomics studies, and offer a glimpse into future prospects.

Impaired reproductive function and fertility preservation in a woman with a dyskeratosis congenita

PURPOSE

To determine the impact of accelerated telomere shortening on the fertility parameters and treatment outcomes of a woman with dyskeratosis congenita (DKC).

METHODS

A case study of the clinical data, blood, discarded oocytes, and arrested embryos of a woman with DKC and donated cryopreserved embryos from unaffected patients. Mean telomere length in blood cells was analyzed by flow cytometry-fluorescence in situ hybridization (flow-FISH) and qPCR. The load of short telomeres in blood cells was measured by universal single telomere length analysis (Universal STELA). The mean telomere length in embryos was analyzed by single-cell amplification of telomere repeats (SCATR) PCR.

RESULTS

Comparison of clinical parameters revealed that the DKC patient had reduced anti-Mullerian hormone (0.3 vs 4.1 ± 5.7 ng/ML), reduced oocytes retrieved (7 vs 18.5 ± 9.5), reduced fertilization rate, and reduced euploidy rate relative to unaffected patients. Additionally, mean telomere length in DKC embryos were shorter than unaffected embryos. However, hormone treatment led to increased leukocyte telomere length, while the load of short telomeres was also shown to decrease during the course of treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate for the first time the direct detrimental impacts of short telomeres on female fertility. We further demonstrate positive effects of hormone treatments for people with telomere disorders.