Mutations in CHEK1, a causative gene that blocks the division of human fertilized eggs, and potential treatments

Tsinghua News Network, May 11-Infertility issues affect millions of couples of childbearing age worldwide

On May 4th, Associate Professor Na Jie's research team at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Professor Cao Yunxia and Professor Zhang Zhiguo's research team from Anhui Medical University, and Li Lin, an assistant researcher at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, published in the Biomedical Journal "Protein and Cell" (Protein & Cell) published an online paper entitled "Maternal heterozygous mutation in CHEK1 leads to mitotic arrest in human zygotes"

Based on clinical cases, the researchers first discovered a female sterile family that showed failure of fertilized egg division, and found the potential pathogenic mutation CHEK1 p.

In order to find a solution to the cleavage disorder of the zygote caused by this mutation, the researchers further used the chemical small molecule inhibitor of CHEK1 to treat the fertilized eggs of mice expressing the mutant Chk1 protein

The study revealed that the first mitosis of human early embryos is extremely sensitive to the regulation of DNA damage checkpoints, and suggests that the egg-to-fertilized egg conversion process of humans and mice is species-specific

Associate Professor Na Jie of School of Medicine of Tsinghua University, Professor Cao Yunxia and Professor Zhang Zhiguo of Anhui Medical University, and Dr.

Paper link:

https://link.