KatCarney

UTMB offers hope for infertility cure

From staff reports
The Daily News

Published June 15, 2007

GALVESTON — A discovery by gynecology researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch may pave the way for new treatments and therapies for a leading cause of female infertility.

The team has found that the amount of one particular enzyme is elevated in sufferers of polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects as many as 15 percent of women of childbearing age.

First diagnosed in 1935 as Stein-Leventhal syndrome, the cause of the complicated syndrome is still unknown, and its numbers are rising because of the obesity epidemic.

The syndrome affects women of all races and nationalities and is defined as having two of the following symptoms — an irregular period with no ovulation, increased hair growth or increased blood testosterone, or polycystic ovaries identified with ultrasound.

Dr. Ayman Al-Hendy, the senior investigator and medical branch associate professor of gynecology, said: “We have identified an enzyme, catechol-O-methyl transferase, or COMT, that is elevated in the ovaries of PCOS patients.”

He said the discovery made possible “a novel therapeutic target for possible treatment” of the syndrome by using enzyme inhibitors aimed specifically at COMT.

The increased expression of the enzyme leads to higher levels of a metabolite called 2-methoxy estrogen, which inhibits a patient’s egg development and maturation. That, in turn, leads to lack of ovulation and infertility.

The researchers have also identified another metabolite, 2-hydroxyestrogen, as a novel biomarker that is secreted at lower levels in the urine of patients with the syndrome. This has long been suggested by researchers but not proven until now.

“This may also provide a helpful diagnostic marker for the disease,” Al-Hendy said.

The medical journal Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism will publish the researchers’ laboratory findings in a manuscript titled “Reduced levels of urinary 2-hydroxyestrogens in polycystic ovary syndrome” during the summer.

Source: http://news.galvestondailynews.com/s...e6dc44846fddc3

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