Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun;42(6):2067-2082.
doi: 10.1007/s10815-025-03468-8. Epub 2025 Apr 30.

Establishment and application of an RNA-seq-based predictive model for the hourly precision window of implantation (WOI) in patients with recurrent implantation failure

Aihua He #  1   2   3 , Tianli Yang #  1   2 , Sijia Lu  4 , Yangyun Zou  4 , Cheng Wan  4 , Yulin Chen  4 , Jing Zhao  1   2 , Nenghui Liu  1   2 , Donge Liu  1   2 , Yumei Li  1   2 , Yonggang Wang  1   2 , Bin Xu  1   2 , Jie Hao  1   2 , Jing Fu  1   2 , Qiong Zhang  1   2 , Baisheng Wang  5 , Yanping Li  6   7
Affiliations

Establishment and application of an RNA-seq-based predictive model for the hourly precision window of implantation (WOI) in patients with recurrent implantation failure

Aihua He et al. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to establish a single-time point RNA-sequencing-based endometrial receptivity test (rsERT) to provide hourly precision of endometrial WOI for patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF).

Methods: A two-phase study was conducted. In the first phase, a total of 70 patients with successful intrauterine pregnancy after personalized embryo transfer (pET) guided by three-time points rsERT were recruited for modified rsERT. Another 21 patients who underwent the prototype of single-time point rsERT were further included for optimization. In the second phase, another cohort of 574 patients with RIF that was recruited and assigned to the experimental group underwent pET guided by the modified rsERT (n = 261) or the control group underwent conventional ET (n = 313). The positive β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG), intrauterine pregnancy rate (IPR), implantation rate (IR), ongoing pregnancy rate, and live birth rate of the two groups were analyzed.

Result: The modified rsERT provided an hour-based predictive result of endometrial WOI with an average accuracy of 94.51% and sensitivity and specificity of 92.73% and 96.29%, respectively. The positive β-hCG, IPR, IR, ongoing pregnancy rate, and live birth rate of the experimental group were significantly different from those in the control group. After propensity score matching (PSM) control for the confounders, positive β-hCG, IR, and early spontaneous abortion rate showed significant differences.

Conclusion: The modified rsERT provided hourly precision WOI prediction using a single-time point endometrial biopsy and pregnancy outcomes were significantly improved, providing an enhanced endometrial receptivity test as an alternative requiring only a single-time point sampling for patients with RIF.

Keywords: Endometrial receptivity; Personalized embryo transfer; RNA-sequencing; Recurrent implantation failure; Window of implantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Reproductive Medicine Ethics Committee of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University (CSU) (No. 2017002) and registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No. ChiCTR-DDD-17013375). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, and we conducted it according to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Teh WT, McBain J, Rogers P. What is the contribution of embryo-endometrial asynchrony to implantation failure? J Assist Reprod Genet. 2016;33(11):1419–30. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Achache H, Revel A. Endometrial receptivity markers, the journey to successful embryo implantation. Hum Reprod Update. 2006;12(6):731–46. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garneau AS, Young SL. Defining recurrent implantation failure: a profusion of confusion or simply an illusion? Fertil Steril. 2021;116(6):1432–5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sebastian-Leon P, Garrido N, Remohi J, Pellicer A, Diaz-Gimeno P. Asynchronous and pathological windows of implantation: two causes of recurrent implantation failure. Hum Reprod. 2018;33(4):626–35. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Galliano D, Bellver J, Diaz-Garcia C, Simon C, Pellicer A. ART and uterine pathology: how relevant is the maternal side for implantation? Hum Reprod Update. 2015;21(1):13–38. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources