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Updated: Aug 1, 2026
Isolation of Human Endometrial Stromal Cells for In Vitro Decidualization
Published on: September 1, 2018
A soluble molecule secreted by human blastocysts modulates regulation of HOXA10 expression in an epithelial
Denny Sakkas1, Christina Lu, Ebru Zulfikaroglu
1Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Objective:
To determine the existence of a soluble signal, secreted from the human blastocyst embryo, that induces HOXA10 gene expression before cell-cell contact.
Design:
To analyze, by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), cell-free media that had contained human embryos cultured to the blastocyst stage for a soluble molecule that induces HOXA10 expression in an endometrial epithelial cell line (Ishikawa).
Setting:
Assisted reproduction technology program of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Patient(S):
Patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. Treatment of Ishikawa cells with blastocyst-conditioned media.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Determination of HOXA10 gene expression.
Result(S):
We demonstrate that cell-free media that had contained human embryos cultured to the blastocyst stage contain a soluble molecule that induces HOXA10 expression in an endometrial epithelial cell line (Ishikawa). We found that hCG does not induce HOXA10 in Ishikawa cells.
Conclusion(S):
Soluble molecules induce a well-characterized marker of endometrial receptivity in endometrial cells without blastocyst apposition. Additionally, HOXA10 induction can serve as a means of evaluating human embryos cultured for IVF and ET. High quality embryos may induce local endometrial receptivity before trophectoderm-endometrial contact.
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