Women with high telomerase activity in luteinised granulosa cells have a higher pregnancy rate during in vitro fertilisation treatment

Objective To study the effect of telomerase activity (TA) in human luteinised granulosa cells (GCs) on the outcome of in vitro fertilisation treatment. Methods Fifty-six women, aged 23 to 39 years, were enrolled and divided into four groups according to their levels of TA. Results Seventeen cases in group A exhibited nondetectable TA, 16 cases in group B expressed low levels of TA (between 0.1 and 0.65 OD × mm), 14 cases in group C expressed moderate TA levels (between 0.66 and 1.00 OD × mm) and 9 cases in group D expressed high levels of TA (more than 1.00 OD × mm). The level of total serum testosterone (T) was significantly higher in groups C and D than in group A (1.43 ± 0.10 vs. 1.08 ± 0.11 nmol/L, P