Pushing the frontiers of science--the WHO/Rockefeller Foundation Initiative on implantation

One approach to fertility regulation for which there is still a large unmet need is a once-a-month method that can be taken at the end of the luteal phase as a menses-inducer. Such a method would have a number of logistical and economic advantages for many women over other currently available methods. However, to be acceptable, menses-inducers of this type must not produce disturbances in subsequent menstrual cycles that would lead to unpredictable menstrual patterns or advance or delay subsequent ovulations. A number of structural and functional factors associated with the cyclical development and demise of the endometrium and corpus luteum in fertile and infertile women have been identified and the opportunity is now presented for interfering with implantation by disrupting the function of these factors at the local level in these tissues without systemic involvement or prolonged activity. The Rockefeller Foundation and WHO are supporting six centers and investigators around the world, as an international collaborative research initiative, to investigate the molecular biology of these factors and the effect on fertility of their manipulation. It is intended that promising leads identified and selected in this way will be developed into new products with industry.