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<Articles JournalTitle="Journal of Family and Reproductive Health">
  <Article>
    <Journal>
      <PublisherName>Tehran University of Medical Sciences</PublisherName>
      <JournalTitle>Journal of Family and Reproductive Health</JournalTitle>
      <Issn>1735-8949</Issn>
      <Volume>20</Volume>
      <Issue>2</Issue>
      <PubDate PubStatus="epublish">
        <Year>2026</Year>
        <Month>09</Month>
        <Day>13</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </Journal>
    <title locale="en_US">Liquid Biopsy as a Screening Tool in Recurrent Implantation Failure During IVF: A Narrative Review</title>
    <FirstPage>94</FirstPage>
    <LastPage>100</LastPage>
    <AuthorList>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Reza</FirstName>
        <LastName>Saeedinia</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Ava</FirstName>
        <LastName>Hemmat</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Zohreh</FirstName>
        <LastName>Heidary</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Vali-E-Asr Reproductive Health Research Center, Family Health Research Institute, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
    </AuthorList>
    <History>
      <PubDate PubStatus="received">
        <Year>2026</Year>
        <Month>06</Month>
        <Day>30</Day>
      </PubDate>
      <PubDate PubStatus="accepted">
        <Year>2026</Year>
        <Month>08</Month>
        <Day>16</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </History>
    <abstract locale="en_US">Objective: Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) remains a multifaceted challenge in assisted reproductive technology (ART), affecting a subset of in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients despite transfer of high-quality embryos. Conventional diagnostics often require invasive procedures that may disturb endometrial receptivity. This narrative review critically synthesizes the evidence on liquid-biopsy strategies for RIF screening, emphasizing biofluids such as uterine fluid (UF), spent embryo culture medium (SCM), peripheral blood, cervicovaginal fluid (CVF), and seminal plasma.
Materials and methods: Literature searches covered PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science through August 2025, with inclusion of pivotal pre-2022 studies. Eligible works included observational studies, clinical trials, multi-omics analyses, and systematic reviews reporting molecular biomarkers relevant to endometrial receptivity or embryo competence.
Results: UF-derived microRNAs (miRNAs) and extracellular vesicle (EV) cargo during the window of implantation (WOI) consistently differentiate receptive from nonreceptive endometrium, with predictive accuracies (AUC 0.75&#x2013;0.90) in small validation studies. SCM-based noninvasive PGT-A (niPGT-A) shows moderate concordance (~65%) with trophectoderm biopsy PGT-A, constrained by contamination and low cfDNA yield; recent advances include blastocoel fluid integration and methylation-based decontamination. Peripheral blood, CVF, and seminal plasma biomarkers remain exploratory due to lower specificity. Pre-analytical standardization and harmonized outcome definitions are critical for translation.
Conclusion: UF-miRNA/EV profiling holds the strongest promise for noninvasive RIF screening, whereas niPGT-A may serve as an adjunct for embryo competence assessment when biopsy is not feasible. Both approaches require multicenter validation and prospective trials demonstrating improved live-birth rates before routine clinical adoption.</abstract>
    <web_url>https://jfrh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfrh/article/view/3793</web_url>
    <pdf_url>https://jfrh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfrh/article/download/3793/759</pdf_url>
  </Article>
</Articles>
