Abstract To analyze the correlation between the levels of the soluble human leukocyte antigen G (sHLA-G) and the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9) in the embryo culture medium of women after in vitro fertilization embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and their embryo quality and clinical pregnancy. Methods: The clinical data, the samples, and the embryo culture medium after fresh embryo transfer of 107 women who had received IVF-ET treatment in the reproductive center from January 2017 to January 2023 were collected. The embryo culture mediums were collected from the high-quality embryos, medium embryos and inferior embryos in the normal fertilized embryos without transplantation. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium. The levels of the sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium were compared among the women with different embryo quality. The correlation between the levels of the sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium and their embryo quality was analyzed. The clinical pregnancy situations of the women with IVF-ET were recorded, and the women were divided into group A (women with clinical pregnancy) and group B (women without clinical pregnancy). The levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium and the other clinical data of the women were compared between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium of the women and their clinical pregnancy. Results: A total of 127 samples of the embryo culture medium were collected from 107 normal fertilized embryos without transfer, including 44 embryo culture mediums of the high-quality embryo, 52 embryo culture mediums of the medium-quality embryo and 30 embryo culture mediums of the poor-quality embryo. The levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium of the high-quality embryo, the medium-quality embryo and the poorquality embryo had decreased gradually. The levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture mediums of the women were positively correlated with their embryo quality (all P<0.01). In 107 women with IVF-ET, there were 69 cases with clinical pregnancy, and with the clinical pregnancy rate of 64.6%. The levels of sHLA-G (8.11±1.63 ng/ml) and MMP-9 (0.45±0.17 ng/ml) in the embryo culture mediums of the women in group B were significantly lower than those (10.63±2.41 ng/ml and 0.61±0.12 ng/ml) of the women in group A. The blastomere number (6.0±1.8) and the high-quality embryo rate (45.6±12.1%) of the women in group B on the third day after IVF-ET were significantly lower than those (8.9±1.8 and 64.8%±15.9%) of the women in group A (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the decrease of the levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9, the number of blastere on the third day after IVF-ET and the rate of the high-quality embryos of the women with IVF-ET were the factors affecting their clinical pregnancy. Conclusion: The levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9 in the embryo culture medium of the women with IVF-ET are positively correlated with their embryo quality. The decrease of the levels of sHLA-G and MMP-9, the number of blastomere on the third day after IVF-ET and the rate of the high-quality embryos of the women with IVF-ET are the factors affecting their clinical pregnancy.
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