Infertility is a common health problem in both males and females at the reproductive age. It covered a range of genitourinary diseases and was influenced by multiple genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. The infertility couples seeking to assisted reproductive technology (ART) were not only worried about the risk of adverse outcomes such as transplantation failure and miscarriage, but also concerned with the onset and progress of the common chronic diseases and cancers. Although the underlying mechanisms have not been fully understood, emerging evidence indicates the reproductive disorders were associated with common chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, neurologic disease, and even cancers. The health implications correlated with infertility have been raised attention, and the genotoxicity or other risk factors may explain the connection. We aim to 1)systemically evaluate the role of genetic and environmental factors in infertility; 2!explore the risk factors associated with infertility and other chronic diseases and cancer; 3) investigate the connection between infertility and the common chronic diseases in terms of genetic and environmental factors. The UK-biobank datatypes including genetic array, clinical, biochemical, environmental information will be used. We expect the duration of this project to be 36 months. We will apply the Mendelian randomization (MR) method, statistical tools for genome-wide association studies (GWAS)/phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS), or other bio-informatic methods to explore the risk factors or causes. We plan to 1!make a summary of the diseases related to infertility, summary of the chronic diseases and cancers. 2!explore the genetic and environmental factors associated with each phenotype, 3) comparison of the risk factors for human infertility and the risk factors for common chronic diseases and cancers. Our work will not only help to counsel couples with questions about the causes of infertility and risks of developing common chronic diseases and cancers, but also potentially decrease the incidence of infertility related diseases and eventually increase the success rates of ART.
