Targeting signaling pathways involved in primordial follicle growth or dormancy: potential application in prevention of follicular loss and infertility

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is one of the important causes of infertility in females. To date, no efficient preventive pharmacological treatment has been offered to prevent POF. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on strategies that provide a normal reproductive lifespan to females at risk of developing POF.

Areas covered

Recently, attention has been drawn to discovering pathways involved in primordial follicle activation, as the inhibition of this process might maintain the stock of primordial follicles and therefore, prevent POF. In vitro and animal studies have resulted in the discovery of several of these pathways that can be used to develop new treatments for POF. These studies show crosstalk of these pathways at different levels. One of the important crossing points of many of these pathways involves anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH). Herein, we discuss different aspects of this topic by reviewing related published articles indexed in PubMed and Web of Science as of December 2021.

Expert opinion

Although the findings seem promising, most of the studies were conducted on animals, and the interaction between these factors and the possible outcomes of their administration in the long term are still unknown. Therefore, further investigation is necessary to assess these aspects.

KEYWORDS:

• Female fertility
• ovarian failure
• folliculogenesis
• primordial follicle growth
• signaling pathway
• anti-mullerian hormone

Article highlights

• The ovary, an organ of the female reproductive system, is the place in which the ovarian follicles undergo the necessary development until ovulation

• Recruitment of selected primordial follicles from the pool of quiescent follicles is controlled by several different factors

• Premature ovarian failure refers to the occurrence of menopause before the average age and is attributable to different etiologies.

• Many cross-signaling pathways have a key role in the growth and recruitment of primordial follicles.

• Targeting these signaling pathways by inhibiting follicular activation could be implemented in therapy in order to protect female fertility.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.