英国伦敦帝国理工大学研究人员在最近一期《自然—医学》杂志上发表论文称，他们发现妇女子宫内膜中一种名为SGK1的酶含量高低会直接影响妇女生育能力，含量过高会导致不孕，含量过低则易导致流产。该发现不仅有助于不孕症或习惯性流产的研究和治疗，也有助于新型避孕药物的开发。
子宫内膜SGK1的酶含量高低会直接影响妇女生育能力
不孕不育是现代社会许多家庭的巨大困扰。有研究表明，近六分之一的妇女因各种各样的原因而造成受孕困难，而受孕后，也有百分之一的妇女会习惯性流产。
英国伦敦帝国理工大学的研究人员对106名患有原因不明性不孕症或习惯性流产的妇女的生理指标进行研究后发现，她们的困扰与其子宫内膜中的SGK1含量水平直接相关，患有原因不明性不孕症妇女的子宫内膜中SGK1含量较常人更高，而习惯性流产者的SGK1含量则较常人低。通过进一步的小鼠试验，研究人员发现，在小鼠受孕期内，其子宫内膜中SGK1水平会下降，期间如向小鼠子宫内膜细胞注入SGK1基因副本来提高该种蛋白水平，则会导致小鼠不能受孕；而如若阻断小鼠体内SGK1基因表达，降低其水平，虽然小鼠怀孕没问题，但会使子宫内膜更脆弱，从而导致子宫内出血，进而导致流产。
研究人员表示，SGK1作为一个生育分子开关，其在子宫内膜细胞中的含量高低直接影响着妇女的生育能力，是受孕成功与否的关键。在不孕症妇女进行人工受孕前通过药物降低其子宫内膜细胞中SGK1水平，可以提高人工受孕的成功率。而提高SGK1水平则可视为一种新的避孕方法，可据此开发新型避孕药物。
相关英文论文摘要：
Deregulation of the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase SGK1 in the endometrium causes reproductive failure
Infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) are prevalent but distinct causes of reproductive failure that often remain unexplained despite extensive investigations1, 2. Analysis of midsecretory endometrial samples revealed that SGK1, a kinase involved in epithelial ion transport and cell survival3, 4, 5, 6, is upregulated in unexplained infertility, most prominently in the luminal epithelium, but downregulated in the endometrium of women suffering from RPL. To determine the functional importance of these observations, we first expressed a constitutively active SGK1 mutant in the luminal epithelium of the mouse uterus. This prevented expression of certain endometrial receptivity genes, perturbed uterine fluid handling and abolished embryo implantation. By contrast, implantation was unhindered in Sgk1−/− mice, but pregnancy was often complicated by bleeding at the decidual-placental interface and fetal growth retardation and subsequent demise. Compared to wild-type mice, Sgk1−/− mice had gross impairment of pregnancy-dependent induction of genes involved in oxidative stress defenses. Relative SGK1 deficiency was also a hallmark of decidualizing stromal cells from human subjects with RPL and sensitized these cells to oxidative cell death. Thus, depending on the cellular compartment, deregulated SGK1 activity in cycling endometrium interferes with embryo implantation, leading to infertility, or predisposes to pregnancy complications by rendering the feto-maternal interface vulnerable to oxidative damage.
英文论文链接：https://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.2498.html
