LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine

At LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine, we engage in ongoing clinical research for the advancement of our own knowledge of infertility, and ultimately, through the development of safer and more advanced methods of treatment as well as improved clinical results, for the benefit of our patients. It is our hope that with technical and scientific advancements, the chances of conceiving may increase without compromising the safety of the patient and baby. The following are some of the areas we have chosen to pursue in clinical research:

Sperm Chromatin structure is an area of interest at LifeQuest. We have embarked on a controlled, randomized trial with the Urology department at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. During this trial, we are hoping to measure and compare sperm chromatin structure of different sperm and testicular specimens so that we may predict the quality of a specimen used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Measuring chromatin structure shows the susceptibility of the sperm to damage. Recent literature has shown high levels of chromatin damage in the sperm can adversely affect embryo quality and implantation success.

Freezing oocytes is an ongoing project at LifeQuest. Since the first live birth of a baby from our method in 2004, we are continuing with this study on a case-by-case basis. Our method is a modification of the ‘slow freezing’ method used by Italian researchers in 2002 (Fabri et al). This process will eventually allow fertility preservation, and the possibility of banking donated oocytes in the same way sperm banks are available to patients.

T.E.R.M. Program: Dr. Carl Laskin, Director and Managing Partner at LifeQuest, has had a clinical research programme in effect for more than 20 years investigating causes of recurrent miscarriage. The T.E.R.M. programme (Treatment and Evaluation of Recurrent Miscarriage) recently completed a large randomized clinical trial (the HepASA trial) that compared two treatment protocols for women with a history of recurrent miscarriage. Women in that study had specific autoantibodies in their blood (antiphospholipid antibodies) that could interfere with fetal development either early in the pregnancy, preventing proper embryo implantation, or later on, interfering with blood supply to the growing fetus.

The T.E.R.M. Programme is currently the only Canadian centre participating in an international observational 5-year trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US called the PROMISSE study. Blood and urine samples are collected throughout pregnancy from women with and without a history of pregnancy loss and autoimmune disease. The samples are monitored for the presence of autoantibodies and proteins involved in the coagulation process in an attempt to better understand their role in pregnancy loss. Dr. Laskin’s research lab is one of three international core labs for this study, receiving plasma samples weekly from around the US and from our own patients, and testing them for coagulation proteins.

Look for more information, including expanded articles about LifeQuest’s ongoing research initiatives, in future issues of our newsletter.