Common Drug Shows Potential to Extend Women's Fertility by Several Years, Early Findings Reveal

A growing number of people are waiting longer to have kids. While there are many reasons people may want to hold back on that decision, about one-third of couples will have difficulties getting pregnant if the female partner is over 35. This is because women's fertility begins declining around that age.

But the researchers of an ongoing clinical trial, published in journal nature portfolio claim rapamycin, a drug commonly used to prevent organ transplants from failing, may be able to extend a woman's fertile years by up to five years.

The early results from a small pilot study suggest potential benefits of rapamycin for fertility treatments, though the findings are not yet peer-reviewed. It will take two years for the clinical trial to conclude before drawing definitive conclusions, but initial results offer some optimism.Previous studies in mice have indicated that rapamycin may positively affect various aspects of ageing, including fertility.

Fertility development can start before birth. While in the womb, female gametes (eggs) surrounded by specialised cells in the ovaries form "primordial follicles." Each follicle contains a single egg that remains dormant until it is recruited for use at puberty.

Numerous follicles die even before birth. This means that every woman is born with all the follicles she will ever have. This is known as the "ovarian reserve". This early-established ovarian reserve can affect a person's ability to become pregnant throughout their reproductive years.

Rapamycin is a bacterial compound that allows cells to survive longer in lab settings.It's commonly used in organ transplant patients to dampen their immune system so that the body doesn't reject the new organ. It's also used to treat certain vascular conditions by slowing down cell growth (such as tumour).A growing body of evidence shows rapamycin may also have benefits when it comes to ageing.

Early results suggest that rapamycin, a common drug, might extend women's fertility by several years. While promising, these findings require further validation through ongoing clinical trials. More research is needed before rapamycin can be considered a viable option for fertility treatment.

References: Mok-Lin E, Ascano M Jr, Serganov A, Rosenwaks Z, Tuschl T, Williams Z. Premature recruitment of oocyte pool and increased mTOR activity in Fmr1 knockout mice and reversal of phenotype with rapamycin. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):588. Published 2018 Jan 12. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18598-y.