Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived ovarian support cell co-culture improves oocyte maturationin vitroafter abbreviated gonadotropin stimulation
Authors: Piechota Sabrina , Marchante Maria , Giovannini Alexa , Paulsen Bruna , Potts Kathryn S , Rockwell Graham , Aschenberger Caroline , Noblett Alexander D , Figueroa Alexandra B , Sanchez Marta , Barrachina Ferran , Wiemer Klaus , Guzman Luis , Belchin Pedro , Smela Merrick Pierson , Fortuna Patrick R.J. , Chatterjee Pranam , Tran Nam D , Kelk Dawn A , Forti Marcy , Marcinyshyn Shelby , Smith Trozalla , McCulloh David H , Fernandez-Gonzalez Marta-Julia , Ortiz Silvia , Klein Joshua U , Klatsky Peter , Ordonez-Perez Daniel , Kramme Christian C 
Published: March 2023

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have significantly impacted fertility treatment worldwide through innovations such asin vitrofertilization (IVF) andin vitromaturation (IVM). IVM holds promise as a technology for fertility treatment in women who cannot or do not wish to undergo conventional controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). However, IVM has historically shown highly variable performance in maturing oocytes and generating oocytes with strong developmental capacity. Furthermore, recently reported novel IVM approaches are limited to use in cycles lacking human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) triggers, which is not standard practice in fertility treatment. We recently reported the development of ovarian support cells (OSCs) generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that recapitulate dynamic ovarian functionin vitro. Here we investigate the potential of the se OSCs in an IVM co-culture system to improve the maturation of human cumulus-enclosed immature oocytes retrieved from abbreviated gonadotropin stimulated cycles. We reveal that OSC-IVM significantly improves maturation rates compared to existing IVM systems. Most importantly, we demonstrate that OSC-assisted IVM oocytes are capable of significantly improving euploid blastocyst formation and yielding blastocysts with normal global and germline differential methylation region methylation profiles, a key marker of their clinical utility. Together, these findings demonstrate a novel approach to IVM with broad applicability to modern ART practice.

Structured Abstract

Objective

To determine ifin vitromaturation (IVM) of human oocytes can be improved by co-culture with ovarian support cells (OSCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).

Design

Three independent experiments were performed in which oocyte donors were recruited to undergo abbreviated gonadotropin stimulation and retrieved cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were randomly allocated between the OSC-IVM and control IVM conditions.

Subjects

Across the three experiments, a total of 67 oocyte donors aged 19 to 37 years were recruited for retrieval using informed consent. Anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) value, antral follicle count (AFC), age, BMI, and ovarian pathology were used for inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Intervention and Control

The OSC-IVM culture condition was composed of 100,000 OSCs in suspension culture supplemented with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (rFSH), androstenedione and doxycycline. IVM controls comprised commercially-available IVM media without OSCs and contained either the same supplementation as above (media-matched control), or FSH and hCG only (IVM media control). In one experiment, an additional control using fetal ovarian somatic cells (FOSCs) was used with the same cell number and media conditions as in the OSC-IVM.

Main Outcome Measures

Primary endpoints consisted of metaphase II (MII) formation rate and oocyte morphological quality assessment. A limited cohort of oocytes were utilized for secondary endpoints, consisting of fertilization and blastocyst formation rates with preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) and embryo epigenetic analysis.

Results

OSC-IVM resulted in a statistically significant improvement in MII formation rate compared to the media-matched control, a commercially available IVM media control, and the FOSC-IVM control. Oocyte morphological quality between OSC-IVM and controls did not significantly differ. OSC-IVM displayed a trend towards improved fertilization, cleavage, and blastocyst formation. OSC-IVM showed statistically significant improvement in euploid day 5 or 6 blastocyst formation compared to the commercially available IVM media control. OSC-IVM embryos displayed similar epigenetic global and germline loci profiles compared to conventional stimulation and IVM embryos.

Conclusion

The novel OSC-IVM platform is an effective tool for maturation of human oocytes obtained from abbreviated gonadotropin stimulation cycles, supporting/inducing robust euploid blastocyst formation. OSC-IVM shows broad utility with different stimulation regimens, including hCG triggered and untriggered oocyte retrieval cycles, making it a highly useful tool for modern fertility treatment.