Dried blood spots as a tool for measuring ovarian reserve in young female cancer survivors

More than 80% of women who are diagnosed with cancer before the age of 40 will survive long-term. As a result, there are nearly 400,000 reproductive-aged women who have a history of cancer and cancer treatment in the United States. Due to cancer treatment, these young cancer survivors face higher risks for shortened reproductive lifespans, infertility, and primary ovarian insufficiency. Therefore, estimating their remaining ovarian reserve is important to identify potential opportunities for biologic parenthood. Anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) is a glycoprotein produced by early staged ovarian follicles in women and can be used as a sensitive biomarker of ovarian reserve. It has been shown that pre-chemotherapy AMH levels can predicts post-chemotherapy ovarian function, making AMH a promising clinical tool for measuring residual ovarian function after cancer. However, logistics and costs fo venipuncture blood collection associated with AMH testing have limited our ability to further explore this topic on a large scale in young adult cancer survivors. We have conducted a poilot study in which young adult cancer survivors were asked to collect dried blood spot samples by themselves. My project aims to characterize the feasilibty of DBS self collection for measuring AMH in this population