IVF study to test if male infertility can be passed through ICSI

A WORLD-first study, led by Melbourne researchers, is aiming to find out whether male infertility and other health problems can be passed onto sons conceived through the most common type of IVF.

A WORLD-first study is aiming to find out whether infertility and other health problems can be passed onto sons conceived through the most common type of IVF, in the first generation of males born via this technique.

Traditional IVF involves placing the egg with thousands of sperm to fertilise in the dish on their own.

But since 1992, men with low sperm count or quality have had access to a fertilisation technique called ICSI — intracytoplasmic sperm injection — that bypasses natural selection to make an embryo.

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A microneedle is used to inject a single sperm directly into an egg, like an “arranged marriage”, to help the one in 20 men with impaired fertility to father their own children.

About 45,000 ICSI embryos are created each year across Australia and New Zealand, accounting for about 65 per cent of IVF cycles.

Project leader Professor Robert McLachlan, of the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, said little was known about the long-term health of children born through assisted reproductive technologies and the impact of handling of eggs, sperm and embryos in the lab on increasing the risk of adult-onset health conditions.

“You’re causing conception in a man who perhaps wouldn’t be able to do that naturally,” Prof McLachlan said.

“But it’s only now with the passage of time, where we’ve got quite a few young men born, we can start to answer the question — what are the outcomes of the treatment?

“This is a very important questions to answer about the real-world health of patients and the safety of these techniques.”

ICSI — intracytoplasmic sperm injection — involves using a microneedle to inject a single sperm directly into an egg, like an “arranged marriage”. Picture: iStock

This same cohort of researchers — also involving Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Monash University, University of Melbourne and University of Adelaide — led the first longitudinal study into IVF quality of life six years ago, finding that adults born through IVF are as well-adjusted and satisfied with life as those conceived naturally.

But Prof McLachlan said many questions remained unanswered.

The comprehensive study will probe the physical health and wellbeing of more than 700 men aged 18-24 years conceived through ICSI in Victoria and South Australia.

Their blood, semen and DNA will be analysed, along with their psychological health, educational outcomes and medical records.

The men will be compared to a group of similarly aged, naturally-conceived Western Australian men whose mothers have been tracked by researchers since falling pregnant.

The project is being funded by a $362,000 grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council, as well as from Monash and Melbourne IVF groups.

“There are likely to be some issues of infertility passed from father to son, but also other types where the mother’s genetic material helps fix it in the son,” Prof McLachlan said.

“We need to advise these men on a case-by-case basis of their fertility, but also predict the subgroups who will have trouble to help them with their life plan.”

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