British researchers announce that hormone kisspeptin shows positive results as new treatment for infertility. This study leading by Dr Waljit Dhillo of Imperial College London, has shown that giving kisspeptin to infertile women can activate the release of sex hormones, which is responsible for menstrual cycle. This study shows promise to a new fertility therapy for women with low sex hormone levels.

Kisspeptin is a main regulator of reproductive function & product of KISS-1 gene. Animals and humans lacking kisspeptin function remain sexually immature. Dr Waljit Dhillo and his team have already shown that kisspeptin treatment is useful in production of sex hormones in fertile women.

In this study, a group of ten women were injected with kisspeptin, who were infertile and not menstruating. After that blood samples were taken to measure their levels of two sex hormones luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), both are essential for ovulation and fertility.

The researchers found that kisspeptin increased 48-fold in LH and 16-fold in FSH, when compared to the control treatment. This is the first study to show that kisspeptin can stimulate sex hormones in women with infertility.