Gene May Help Cause Infertility

Scientists say dysfunction in a key gene could explain many cases of female infertility. In studies in mice, embryos without a gene that expresses a uterine protein called CCAAT/Enhancer Binding Protein beta (C/EBPb) could not survive in uterine tissue or attach to the mother's blood supply. "This protein in the mouse is also in humans," lead researcher Milan K. Bagchi, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois, said in a prepared statement. "We believe it plays a critical role in human pregnancy. It is expressed in the human endometrium at a time that coincides with the time of implantation." The report appears in this week's early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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