Background: Recent studies have implicated a role for inhibin alpha (INHα)  gene abnormalities in the etiology of premature ovarian failure (POF).The present study aimed at demonstrating the possibility that -16C>T polymorphism of INHα gene may enhance susceptibility to this disease among Egyptian women undergoingt in-vitro fertilization(IVF) technique.
Methods: A total of 50 POF Egyptian women at age (31.5±7.3) and 50 control women at age (29.1 ± 6.8) were included in this study. Genotyping of INHα-16C>T gene was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Levels of inhibin, activin, FSH and LH were also assessed.
Results: Serum levels of FSH and LH showed significant increase coupled by decrease in serum inhibin and inhibin/activin ratio, however, levels of activin were within normal values in POF women comparing to control ones. The frequencies of CC, CT and TT genotypes showed no significant changes in POF women compared to control group. Moreover, there were no significant differences in frequency of C and T alleles among the POF women in comparison to controls.
Conclusion:  Obtained data indicated that -16C>T polymorphism of INHα gene can not imply a functional effect on the current decline of serum inhibin and hence the risk of developing POF in the studied Egyptian women. Further studies on POF women are needed to expand the present data.