Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 8, No. 12, 1051-1052,
December 2002
© 2002 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Editorial |
The changing face of Molecular Human Reproduction
Institute for Hormone and Fertility Research University of Hamburg, Grandweg 64, 22529 Hamburg, Germany
It has been another highly interesting and successful year for Molecular Human Reproduction, with various positive changes taking place. Importantly, we have continued to see an increase in the quality of submitted manuscripts and we are pleased to be publishing solid molecular studies which make noticeable advances in the field of human reproductive biology.
Secondly, the review process for Molecular Human Reproduction has been managed for most of this year through an online submission and peer-review system. This has been implemented with minimal disruptions to authors and reviewers. It has also allowed a faster, more efficient review process. Almost all of our authors, reviewers and associate editors have been keen to work through this system, and reviewers are now happy to produce well-considered reviews within a couple of weeks. This is certainly much appreciated. From the editorial side, it is always pleasing to see the amount of co-operation amongst scientists to ensure that manuscripts are reviewed in a fair and effective manner.
The increased use of the internet has also made a huge difference with the readership of Molecular Human Reproduction. More and more, the journal is being accessed online; this is not surprising considering the convenience and the immediate availability of the articles each month. The greater online usage has meant that it is now no longer necessary to post out a hardcopy of the journal each and every month. However, we still recognize the importance of the hardcopy issue to many readers, and for this reason, we have decided to produce—every other month—two printed issues of the journal bound together. Please note, though, that this will have no effect on actual publication dates: each issue of the journal will continue to appear at the beginning of every month on www.molehr.oupjournals.org.
Very rarely, we have to turn down articles for being ‘out of scope’. This bears no reflection on the quality of the research submitted, but is simply that we consider that another journal might be better suited for such an article. But what does constitute the scope of Molecular Human Reproduction? Briefly, we want to publish articles which contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms which underly the physiology and pathology of human reproductive tissues and organs, as well as the molecular basis of human fertility and infertility.
Unlike most other tissues of the body, those of the reproductive system are generally not in a steady state. Reproductive function is dictated by regulated processes of change, where growth, differentiation and apoptosis are major players, and where cell migration, invasion and inflammatory responses are parts of normal, not pathological function. Unlike a steady-state tissue such as the brain or the liver, molecular mechanisms are less oriented towards maintaining a constant micro- or macro-environment, but are aimed at a directed but regulated transition from one differentiation state to another. One only has to think of folliculogenesis, ovulation and the formation of the corpus luteum, which has all the attributes of a tumour with rapid and massive growth and angiogenesis, except that at the end of every cycle or pregnancy it knows when to stop. Similarly for the endometrium, we have considerable proliferation and differentiation, which is nevertheless under very tight temporal control to create a precise window for implantation to occur. Implantation, pregnancy and embryogenesis are unlike any other process in the body, with massive but controlled cell invasion and differentiation. The list of such processes is long, and also the male is not free of examples. Think of the generation of sperm in the seminiferous epithelium, and their vectorial maturation process in the epididymis.
It is probably very significant that so many cancers develop from reproductive tissues of the male and female, where the molecular regulatory mechanisms are more dynamically controlled and probably more susceptible to unwanted perturbation. Reproductive tissues may be more sensitive to environmental disruption, and certainly represent some of the first tissues of the body which show evidence of aging, already in the mid-30s for both men and women.
From preliminary results that are now being collected, many of which are being published in Molecular Human Reproduction, it would appear that the basic reproductive phenotypes often reflect quite different types of signal transduction pathway, or transcriptional cascade from those functioning in other tissues. The control of such dynamic systems will probably only truly be understood when we can trace all the operating networks and cross-talk. Modern molecular reproduction has become very much a systems biology, with emphasis on integrative processes and global analysis. In this context the new developments in high throughput functional genomics and DNA-microarray analysis will bring our science ahead in leaps and bounds. But it will still require the in-depth analysis of many individual components and pathways, making use of a wide range of molecular, cellular and subcellular technologies.
The scope of Molecular Human Reproduction is thus truly very broad, including a wide range of tissues. Nevertheless, at the molecular level, many of the processes, pathways and networks can also be very similar. In my own laboratory we have found it helpful to compare the molecular processes occurring in ovarian cells with those in the testis. Or to note that the steroid-driven pathways operating in the endometrium are similar to those operating in breast cancer cells. Thus, the heterogeneity at the level of the tissues is often only apparent and may in fact belie a narrower set of molecules and mechanisms.
The aim of Molecular Human Reproduction is therefore to provide a forum for advancing knowledge about all these molecular processes. We want it to be relevant for human physiology and pathology, fertility and infertility. While many animal species can be very interesting, reproduction can also be very variable at an evolutionary or a biological level; while we welcome articles using animal models with demonstrated relevance for the human, studies which focus specifically on other species are better placed in a broader-based journal. Because our research field is moving very fast, we now also welcome submission of short review articles, which are able to summarize the new knowledge in a manner accessible to the younger scientist and clinician.
The next months and years will see a revolution in our understanding of fundamental reproductive processes. The broad reproduction field already implicitly encompasses ART, transgenics, cloning, PGD and stem cell research. Molecular reproduction is a discipline on the fast track, and we intend that this is reflected in the high quality science published in Molecular Human Reproduction.
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