Women, sooner or later, suffer from the absence of a menstrual period. This new stage is called menopause and, to this day, it has not been possible to detect when it will happen. It just happens, and women wait for the moment.
Menopause brings great hormonal changes, which affect both body temperature, physical and mental health. Now, a recent study has identified nearly 300 genetic variations that influence the age of menopause for women. The University of Exeter (UK) research team found that these genetic variants can predict the approximate age at which some women will stop having periods and identify those at risk for early menopause.
The results could lead to better infertility treatments in the future and increase the natural reproductive life expectancy of women. The researchers also examined certain health effects of having an earlier or later menopause. They genetically found that earlier menopause increased the risk of type 2 diabetes and was linked to poorer bone health and an increased risk of fractures. But they found that earlier menopause reduces the risk of some types of cancer, such as ovarian and breast cancer.
These results will undoubtedly open up new possibilities to help women plan for the future. By finding many more of the genetic causes of variability in the timing of menopause, it has been shown that you can begin to predict which women might have earlier menopause and therefore struggle to get pregnant naturally. Remember that all women are born with genetic variations, so each case is special and unique.
Genetics can delay menopause by 3.5 years
For the study, the researchers analyzed genetic data collected from women of European and East Asian descent from the UK Biobank, which has health and genetic information on around half a million people. They also used model rodents to examine the effects of some of the genes on the reproductive life of the mice.
In these animals, the researchers found two particular genes, Chek1 and Chek2, that affect fertility and reproductive life expectancy. The team found that inactivating Chek2 so that it no longer works while overexpressing Chek1 to enhance activity increased reproductive life expectancy in mice by about 25 percent.
In contrast, women who naturally lack an active Chek2 gene , scientists found, reach menopause 3.5 years later than women with a normally active gene.
Professor Eva Hoffmann of the University of Copenhagen, also a co-author of the study, said her findings ” provide potential new direction for therapeutic approaches that could seek to treat infertility, particularly in vitro fertilization treatment.”
Commented that: “in fertilization vitro is based on the hormonal stimulation of women found that one of our mouse models, CHEK2, females had improved to hormonal stimulation response, which means you got more eggs for. the actual treatment of in vitro fertilization. L or show our studies is that it is possible that short – term targeted inhibition of these pathways during IVF treatment might help some women respond better. “
