An experimental treatment significantly improves the quality of human eggs and increases the proportion that can be used for in vitro fertilization, researchers reported at the Fertility 2026 conference in the UK.
In lab experiments, the treatment raised the proportion of viable eggs from about 47% to 71%, manufacturer Ovo Labs GmbH in Munich said in a press release.
If the treatment proves effective in actual assisted reproduction procedures, it could lead to an additional million babies being born through IVF each year worldwide, the company said.
For an egg to give rise to a viable embryo at fertilization and ultimately a healthy baby, it must contain the correct amount of genetic material, study leader and OVO Labs co-founder Melina Schuh of Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany explained.
In humans, this means exactly 23 chromosomes, Schuh said. However, human eggs frequently contain an abnormal number of chromosomes. The condition, known as aneuploidy, occurs in approximately 25% of eggs from women in their late 20s and in more than 65% of eggs from women approaching age 40.
Aneuploidy usually results in failed implantation, miscarriage or infertility.
The researchers say their treatment improves the accuracy of chromosome segregation during egg maturation by restoring levels of a protective protein involved in the process called Shugoshin 1 (Japanese for “guardian spirit”) to levels seen in eggs from younger women.
“Being able to treat eggs to make (chromosome segregation) work better would be a huge advance," Professor Richard Anderson, a reproductive medicine specialist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the research, said.
"While we await further details and confirmatory clinical trials, including addressing safety issues, these results have great potential for improving IVF success rates.”
