18 April,2018 03:17 PM IST | Washington D.C. | ANI
Representational picture
Washington D.C.: A research has decoded the mechanism of chemotherapy-induced female infertility. The researchers from the Goethe University Frankfurt deciphered the mechanism leading to premature loss of the oocyte pool caused by treatment with chemotherapy.
Many chemotherapeutics act by damaging the DNA. Since cancer cells divide more often than most normal cells, they react more sensitive to DNA damaging agents. One exception is oocytes.
ALSO READ
'Unhealthy diet, physical inactivity driving abdominal obesity in India'
Long-Covid like condition common after respiratory infections, finds study
Why young adults face a higher risk of stroke from lifestyle choices
Weight loss drugs can cause decline in skeletal muscle mass, finds study
65 pct Indian doctors call for safer tobacco alternatives to save lives: Study
To prevent birth defects they initiate a cellular death program if DNA damage is detected. This process, called apoptosis, is triggered in oocytes by the protein p63. Oocytes contain a high concentration of an oocyte-specific isoform of p63 which plays a key role as a quality control factor in causing infertility.
In contrast to men who produce new sperm cells throughout their life women are born with a finite number of oocytes. When this pool is depleted menopause starts. This pool of oocytes can be depleted prematurely by chemotherapy resulting in early menopause. This results not only in infertility but also in hormone-based problems such as osteoporosis.
In non-damaged oocytes, p63 exists in an inactive form. DNA damage caused by chemo- or radiotherapy results in the modification of p63 with phosphate groups which triggers a conformational change to the active form.
Active p63 starts the cell death program which leads to the elimination of the oocyte. These results open new opportunities for developing a therapy for preserving oocytes of female cancer patients treated with chemotherapeutics.
The study appears in the online edition of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
