Investigation of the role of serum telomerase levels in patients with occult primary ovarian insufficiency: a prospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate serum telomerase levels of occult primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) and the relationship between in vitro fertilisation (IVF) results of these patients and serum telomerase levels. A cross-sectional case–control study was conducted between May and October 2017 including 78 patients at University of Health Science, Turkey. Occult POI was defined as women with a history of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) elevation between 12 and 25 IU/L and low ovarian reserve before initiation of IVF (n = 39). The control group were patients attending the hospital for contraception, with no history of infertility, having at least one healthy child (n = 39). Telomerase levels in serum samples were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. There was no statistically significant difference in serum telomerase levels in occult POI patients when compared with the control group.

Impact statement

• What is already known on this subject? Clinical studies investigating the role of telomerase on reproductive function and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) outcomes in occult primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) patients are limited with no clear consensus and in all these studies polymerase chain reaction technique was used to evaluate telomere length. Regarding our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature investigating the role of serum telomerase levels in occult POI patients.

• What do the results of this study add? In contrast to the previous studies, in this study no statistically significant difference was found in serum telomerase levels in occult POI patients when compared with the fertile control patients.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The occult POI patients examined in this study are overlooked until they apply with infertility. Serum telomerase measurement is not useful to support the diagnosis of occult POI. Nevertheless, in order to confirm these findings, further studies in larger populations are needed.

Keywords:

• Occult primary ovarian insufficiency
• telomerase
• in vitro fertilisation
• reproductive aging

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to participants for their voluntary participation in this research.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee (13.02.2017/27) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author contributions

Duygu Tuğrul Ersak: Project development, data analysis, manuscript writing and editing; Nafiye Yılmaz: Project development, data analysis and manuscript editing; Sabri Cavkaytar: Data analysis and manuscript editing; Burak Ersak: Project development and data collection; Yaprak Üstün: Manuscript writing

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.