‘Kiss’ hormone injections could restore fertility

A HORMONE made by a gene called “kiss” has the potential to restore fertility in some women, scientists have found.

Twice weekly injections of the natural drug lead to long-term increases in levels of sex hormones that control the menstrual cycle, a study showed.

Kiss-1 plays a key role in regulating reproduction. It produces the hormone kisspeptin which helps humans and other animals go through puberty and become sexually mature.

Researchers from Imperial College London led by Dr Waljit Dhillo studied women with a condition called hypothalamic amenorrhoea, which prevents menstruation and causes infertility.

Over a period of eight weeks, a group of 10 infertile women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea were given twice-weekly injections of either kisspeptin or a salt solution.

Then their levels of luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), which are essential for ovulation and fertility, were measured.

Women experienced a large increase in the circulating sex hormones at the start of the treatment which halved by day 14. However, after two weeks, their responsiveness to kisspeptin remained steady.

On the last day of the trial, the hormonal responses of women given kisspeptin injections were 16 times higher than women who received the salt treatment.

The findings were presented yesterday at the Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Manchester.