Clinical trials

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), commonly referred to as recurrent miscarriage, affects approximately 1-2% of couples attempting to conceive. In nearly half of these cases, no definitive cause can be identified despite thorough clinical evaluation. A circumstance that is both distressing and disorienting for affected families, particularly in settings such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where childbearing carries significant personal and cultural weight. One leading hypothesis is that the underlying problem may not lie with the embryo itself, but with the way the mother's immune system responds to a developing pregnancy. Under normal physiological conditions, the maternal body must establish immune tolerance toward an embryo that is genetically half-foreign in origin. In some women, this tolerance mechanism may be impaired, reducing the likelihood that a pregnancy will successfully implant and progress. This study will evaluate whether granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) a naturally occurring substance that normally stimulates the production of immune cells can help address this issue by modulating an overactive immune response and enhancing the uterine environment's capacity to support pregnancy. Notably, the study will enroll only women whose embryos have undergone genetic testing and been confirmed to be chromosomally normal. This eliminates embryo quality as a contributing factor to pregnancy loss and allows for a clearer assessment of whether G-CSF itself influences outcomes. Earlier small-scale studies, including preliminary work conducted at our own centre, have shown encouraging results. This new trial builds on that foundation by enrolling a larger cohort, comparing G-CSF against a placebo (an inactive comparison treatment), and evaluating a simpler route of administration; subcutaneous injection, rather than direct infusion into the uterus. Together, these design features aim to provide the most reliable evidence to date on whether this treatment can meaningfully help couples affected by unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.

Vitamin D is best known for keeping our bones healthy, but growing research suggests it may also play a role in fertility. Many In vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics now routinely check vitamin D levels and prescribe supplements before treatment, but the science is still unclear on whether this actually improves the chances of pregnancy. Our study, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), aims to find out whether a woman's vitamin D level on the day of her frozen embryo transfer (FET) makes a difference to whether she becomes pregnant and delivers a baby. The UAE is an ideal setting for this research, as vitamin D deficiency is particularly common in the region. The findings could shape how fertility clinics screen and treat women seeking fertility treatment in the future.

With declining fertility rates Worldwide, Assisted Reproductive Technology is seen as a viable solution for infertility, however, individual success rates following ART remain relatively low, rarely exceeding \~50%. The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) indicates pregnancy rates per embryo transfer remain below 50%. Additionally, male infertility is regarded as a leading contributor to global infertility with approximately a third of cases attributed to genetic causes while half of the cases remain unexplained. In this observational study we investigate the correlation between phospholipase C Zeta (PLCζ ) measurements and semen parameters. PLCζ is a sperm-specific protein which is introduced into a mature egg (oocyte) following gamete fusion and upon introduction, PLCζ is believed to initiate a series of characteristic calcium ion oscillations which lead to oocyte activation and persist beyond the completion of meiosis. Mounting evidence implicates defects in PLCζ in cases of male factor infertility where intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI; whereby a single sperm is injected into the oocyte) is unsuccessful. Furthermore, defects in PLCζ are also increasingly implicated in cases of male sub-fertility, which affects a much larger proportion of the global population. Numerous studies now indicate that PLCζ not only holds significant value as a therapeutic to rescue cases of ICSI failure, but also as a prognostic diagnostic test of male fertility. Indeed, the reduction or absence of normal PLCζ within sperm has been linked to cases of male factor infertility in humans, either due to inactivation through mutation, due to abrogation of protein levels in sperm as a result of mutation in the PLCζ promoter, or mutations within coding exonic regions of the PLCζ gene. Such data indicate both therapeutic, and diagnostic applications for PLCζ within the fertility clinic. This study seeks to determine the effect of abnormal PLCζ on semen parameters and correlate that with downstream events including clinical pregnancy and live birth rates.

Clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Thymosin-α1 (Tα1) as an adjunctive immunomodulatory therapy in women with unexplained recurrent implantation failure (RIF) undergoing IVF/ICSI cycles.