A simple oral swab test before IVF likely to boost success rate

IVF treatment involves stimulating the woman’s ovaries to mature many eggs, which are then retrieved and fertilised with sperm in the laboratory before being returned to the uterus.

There are two different types of hormone treatments to choose from for egg maturation: biological or synthetic. Besides the risk of serious side effects, the therapies sometimes require women to go into intensive care -- and many attempts at IVF fail. Selecting which therapy is best for the woman has become a major challenge.

While mapping genes is costly and takes time, the new simple oral swab test within an hour shows which hormone therapy is most suitable.

“Our hope is that this will reduce the risk of suffering for women, increase the number of successful treatments, and cut costs for taxpayers. Our goal is for the test to be available by the start of 2026,” said Yvonne Lundberg Giwercman, professor at Lund University.

A total of 1,466 women undergoing IVF treatment in Sweden were included in the study, and 475 were randomised to two different hormone treatments while the rest were controls.

Using gene sequencing, the team mapped the action of the gene follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which is known to play an important role in egg maturation.

The study identified that women with a particular variant of the FSH receptor (FSHR) gene that mediates the action of the hormone responded best to the biological hormone treatment, while others benefited from receiving the synthetic type of hormone.

To decode the genetic profile, the team turned to the oral swab test, which proved to be significantly efficient. Within an hour, it produced results that can be seen with the naked eye as a pink or yellow colour.

By knowing the woman’s genetic profile in advance, we can increase the number of successful pregnancies, said Giwercman, in the study published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology.