Genetic Association between Inflammatory-Related Polymorphism in STAT3, IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α and Idiopathic Recurrent Implantation Failure.

Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) is defined as a failure to achieve pregnancy after multiple embryo transfers. Implantation is closely related to inflammatory gradients, and interleukin-1beta (IL-1ß), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) play a key role in maternal and trophoblast inflammation during implantation. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) interacts with cytokines and plays a critical role in implantation through involvement in the inflammation of the embryo and placenta. Therefore, we investigated 151 RIF patients and 321 healthy controls in Korea and analyzed the association between the polymorphisms (STAT3 rs1053004, IL-1ß rs16944, IL-6 rs1800796, and TNF-α rs1800629, 1800630) and RIF prevalence. In this paper, we identified that STAT3 rs1053004 (AG, adjusted odds rate [AOR] = 0.623; p = 0.027; GG, AOR = 0.513; p = 0.043; Dominant, AOR = 0.601, p = 0.011), IL-6 rs1800796 (GG, AOR = 2.472; p = 0.032; Recessive, AOR = 2.374, p = 0.037), and TNF-α rs1800629 (GA, AOR = 2.127, p = 0.010, Dominant, AOR = 2.198, p = 0.007) have a significant association with RIF prevalence. This study is the first to investigate the association of each polymorphism with RIF prevalence in Korea and to compare their effect based on their function on inflammation.

The Use of Cell-free Protein Synthesis to Push the Boundaries of Synthetic Biology.

Cell-free protein synthesis is emerging as a powerful tool to accelerate the progress of synthetic biology. Notably, cell-free systems that harness extracted synthetic machinery of cells can address many of the issues associated with the complexity and variability of living systems. In particular, cell-free systems can be programmed with various configurations of genetic information, providing great flexibility and accessibility to the field of synthetic biology. Empowered by recent progress, cell-free systems are now evolving into artificial biological systems that can be tailored for various applications, including on-demand biomanufacturing, diagnostics, and new materials design. Here, we review the key developments related to cell-free protein synthesis systems, and discuss the future directions of these promising technologies.