Contribution of senescence in human endometrial stromal cells during proliferative phase to embryo receptivity(†)

Successful assisted reproductive technology pregnancy depends on the viability of embryos and endometrial receptivity. However, the literature has neglected effects of the endometrial environment during the proliferative phase on implantation success or failure. Human endometrial stromal cells (hESCs) were isolated from endometrial tissues sampled at oocyte retrieval during the proliferative phase from women undergoing infertility treatment. Primary hESC cultures were used to investigate the relationship between stemness and senescence induction in this population and embryo receptivity. Patients were classified as receptive or non-receptive based on their pregnancy diagnosis after embryo transfer. Biomarkers of cellular senescence and somatic stem cells were compared between each sample. hESCs from non-receptive patients exhibited significantly higher (P < 0.01) proportions of senescent cells, mRNA expressions of CDKN2A and CDKN1A transcripts (P < 0.01), and expressions of genes encoding the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (P < 0.05). hESCs from receptive patients had significantly higher (P < 0.01) mRNA expressions of ABCG2 and ALDH1A1 transcripts. Our findings suggest that stemness is inversely associated with senescence induction in hESCs and, by extension, that implantation failure in infertility treatment may be attributable to a combination of senescence promotion and disruption of this maintenance function in this population during the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle. This is a promising step towards potentially improving the embryo receptivity of endometrium. The specific mechanism by which implantation failure is prefigured by a loss of stemness among endometrial stem cells, and cellular senescence induction among hESCs, should be elucidated in detail in the future.