Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Med Genet. Oct 27, 2022; 10(2): 7-21
Published online Oct 27, 2022. doi: 10.5496/wjmg.v10.i2.7
Epigenetics in the etiology and management of infertility
Tajudeen Olanrewaju Yahaya, Danlami M Bashar, Esther O Oladele, Ja'afar Umar, Daniel Anyebe, Abdulrazaq Izuafa
Tajudeen Olanrewaju Yahaya, Ja'afar Umar, Abdulrazaq Izuafa, Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State 23401, Nigeria
Danlami M Bashar, Department of Microbiology, Federal University Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State 23401, Nigeria
Esther O Oladele, Biology Unit, Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos, Lagos State 23401, Nigeria
Daniel Anyebe, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State 23401, Nigeria
Author contributions: Yahaya TO conceptualized, performed the literature search, article writing and correspondence; Bashar DM performed the literature search and article writing; Oladele EO and Umar J performed article writing and proofreading; Anyebe D and Izuafa I performed article sorting; all authors proofread, and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declared no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist. A structured abstract is provided on page 2; rationale and objectives of the study are provided in the introduction on page 5; methodology, which described eligibility criteria for article selection, databases searched, and article selection criteria, is reported on page 5; results are synthesized on page 6; and a discussion of results is provided on pages 6–19.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tajudeen Olanrewaju Yahaya, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University Birnin Kebbi, Along Kalgo/Bunza Road, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State 23401, Nigeria. yahayatajudeen@gmail.com
Received: March 5, 2022
Peer-review started: March 5, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: June 28, 2022
Accepted: October 12, 2022
Article in press: October 12, 2022
Published online: October 27, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Medical practitioners are advised to formulate treatment procedures and epigenetic drugs for infertility having an epigenetic etiology.

Research motivation

Epigenetic disruption is involved in some cases of infertility.

Research objectives

Epigenetic disruptions in genes that control gametogenesis and embryogenesis, such as DDX3X, ADH4, AZF, PLAG1, D1RAS3, CYGB, MEST, JMJD1A, KCNQ1, IGF2, H19, and MTHFR may result in infertility.

Research methods

Relevant information was collected from notable academic repositories and the articles collected were sorted using Endnote software.

Research results

The study was aimed at articulating and disseminating the epigenetic basis of infertility to raise public awareness.

Research conclusions

The study was motivated by the desire to reduce the incidence and burden of infertility.

Research perspectives

Abnormal epigenetic modifications have been implicated in some cases of infertility and can be used as therapeutic targets. However, the role of epigenetics in infertility has not been given adequate attention.