| Project II |
Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (RSA) & Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
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Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), defined as the occurrence of a clinically detectable pregnancy loss within 20 weeks' gestation on 3 or more occasions, takes place as many as 1 in 125 pregnancies. The majority of these abortions occur between 5 and 8 weeks' gestation. However, in as many as 40-60% of these cases, the cause remains unknown. This research project will be involved in identifying and cloning the factor(s) that are less expressed or more expressed in RSA patients.
The scientific and clinical benefits of this effort will ultimately enable the physician to more effectively address the uncertainty that confronts patients experiencing habitual abortion. Eventually, patients possessing mutations in these genes will be screened for both normal pregnancy and pregnancy through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) in order to protect them from habitual abortion. PCOS - in preparation |
