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Understanding Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome
Summary
The goal of this project is to use a range of new proteomic approaches including a series of novel fractionation procedures to identify a panel of blood proteins that are predictive of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
Description
Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) is a clinical condition arising during IVF treatment due to gonadotrophin stimulation of the ovaries. The ovaries enlarge with an increase in capillary permeability resulting in an acute fluid shift out of the intravascular space, intravascular volume depletion and haemoconcentration.
In Australia, approximately 30% of women undergoing IVF experience some degree of OHSS with 0.5-2% requiring hospitalisation.
Currently, no diagnostic tests are available to predict which women will develop OHSS. We hypothesise that plasma proteins identified during gonadotrophin stimulation prior to hCG administration will be predictive of impending OHSS with sufficient sensitivity and specificity to be clinically useful as a diagnostic marker.
Our objective is to define the proteomic profiles of plasma collected from women during IVF who developed mild, moderate or severe OHSS and compare with matched controls.
The main technologies that are being used include protein immunodepletion, two-dimensional differential-in-gel electrophoresis, iTRAQ and mass spectrometry.
Initial studies have been completed and a small group of proteins have been defined which are predictive for OHSS when compared to matched controls.
Current studies are directed to identifying which of these proteins have the requisite specificity and sensitivity to be useful as a clinical marker(s). We propose to develop clinical assays for those proteins with most promise and apply these to larger clinical sets.
A natural overflow from this research will be a significant contribution to the understanding of OHSS onset and progression.
Funding
National Health and Medical Research Council
Monash IVF