Int. J. Dev. Biol. 58: 127 - 137 (2014)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.130340pd

Vol 58, Issue 2-3-4

Special Issue: Embryo Implantation

Transcriptomics of the human endometrium

Published: 10 July 2014

Patricia Díaz-Gimeno^1,*, Maria Ruíz-Alonso², David Blesa^1,2 and Carlos Simón^1,2,3

¹Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (FIVI), Valencia University and Instituto Universitario IVI/INCLIVA, Spain, ²IVIOMICS, Parc Cientific Valencia University, Paterna, Valencia, Spain and ³Department of Ob/Gyn, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, CA, USA

Abstract

During the mid-secretory phase, the endometrium acquires the receptive phenotype, which corresponds to the only period throughout the endometrial cycle in which embryo implantation is viable. Endometrial receptivity is a crucial process and even more important in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) where embryo-endometrial synchronization is coordinated through embryo transfer timing. Over the last decade, transcriptomic analyses performed on the human endometrium have shown that specific genomic signatures can be used to successfully phenotype different phases of the menstrual cycle including the receptive stage, independently of the histological appereance of the endometrial tissue. In this paper, we review current evidence demonstrating that endometrial transcriptomics objectively identifies the implantation window in a personalized manner, opening the field for the diagnosis of the endometrial factor in ART and moving to stratified medicine at this level, using microarray technology and soon high-throughput next generation sequencing coupled with functional and systems genomics approach.

Keywords

Endometrial Receptivity Array, personalised embryo transfer, personalised window of implantation, clinical translation, systems biology