Bin LI (China)
Li Bin, Medical Doctor, who graduated from Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University and has been working as a senior embryologist at the department of assisted reproduction, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital since 2011, focusing on human reproductive genetics such as oocyte maturation arrest, fertilization failure and early embryo development arrest. Together with the partners, we firstly reported homozygous mutations in WEE2 that are responsible for fertilization failure in humans (AM J Hum Genet) and mutations in TUBB8 that are responsible for oocyte maturation arrest in humans (N Engl J Med, J Med Genet., Hum Reprod).
Abstract
Genes in Fertilization Failure and Treatment
The occurrence of infertility remains unexplained in many cases, and a molecular understanding of infertility has the potential to reveal fundamental insights into human reproduction. Successful human reproduction starts from the fusion of a sperm with a mature oocyte and form a diploid zygote that will subsequently develop into a complete individual. Fertilization is therefore a fundamental process of development and a prerequisite for successful human reproduction. However, some affected individuals suffer from recurrent fertilization failure, although morphologically normal sperm and oocytes can be retrieved. There are two main factors for fertilization failure: (1) fertilization failure caused by sperm factors. For example, Mutations in PLCZ1 will make sperms unable to induce oocyte activation, resulting in the failure of pronuclei formation. (2) fertilization failure caused by oocyte factors. For example, mutations in ZP genes will lead to abnormal zona pellucida and mutations in WEE2 will lead to failure of pronuclei formation. Here, we will introduce the above content in fertilization failure and the treatment strategy of the ninth people’s hospital.