Cancer cells may hijack a fertility protein to repair damaged DNA and survive chemotherapy, research suggests.

The findings could point to a way of making existing cancer treatments more effective.

SYCP1 is a protein normally involved in producing sperm and eggs.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool found that the protein, previously thought to work only in reproduction, can be reactivated in cancer cells, where it helps tumours survive and grow.

SYCP1 usually helps chromosomes pair during meiosis, the form of cell division that produces reproductive cells.

In cancer cells, however, the protein appears to take on another role. It enters the nucleus, the cell’s control centre, binds directly to DNA and regulates genes involved in cell division and DNA repair.

DNA repair is how cells fix damage to their genetic code. In cancer, this process can help tumour cells survive treatment.

The researchers found that removing SYCP1 made cancer cells much more sensitive to chemotherapy drugs that damage DNA.

The findings suggest cancers may use SYCP1 to repair damage caused by treatment and continue growing.

Dr Urszula McClurg, lecturer in biochemistry, cell and systems biology at the University of Liverpool, said: “Our findings show that cancer cells can hijack proteins that normally exist only in reproductive tissues and give them completely new jobs.

“Understanding these unexpected functions opens up exciting opportunities to develop new treatments that make existing cancer therapies more effective.”

The work challenges the long-held belief that proteins active only in fertility have no biological relevance outside the reproductive system.

Researchers say these specialised proteins could provide new treatment targets across many types of cancer.

The study also offers a new view of how cancers evolve by repurposing developmental and reproductive processes.

The findings highlight SYCP1 as a candidate for future precision cancer therapies, which are treatments based on the specific biology of a patient’s cancer.

Women’s health has become one of the most searched and shared topics online, from cycle syncing and cortisol management to menopause hacks, supplements, hormone testing and clinician-creator content.

That surge in attention, sometimes dubbed “healthmaxxing,” is changing how women find, evaluate and act on health information, and it is starting to reshape the relationship between patients, clinicians and the companies building products for this market.

For providers, the shift means patients are arriving better informed but also more exposed to unverified claims, putting pressure on clinicians to engage with online narratives rather than dismiss them.

For femtech and pharma companies, it opens a route to reach and educate consumers at scale, but also raises the stakes on credibility: products and messaging that ride the trend without clinical grounding risk eroding the trust the industry has spent years building.

Investors are watching the same dynamic from a different angle.

Attention-driven demand can be a signal of where the next wave of femtech growth will come from, but distinguishing genuine clinical need from viral momentum is increasingly part of due diligence.

The net effect is a widening gap between companies that treat cultural attention as a distribution channel for credible, evidence-based care, and those that risk being swept up in trends with little clinical substance behind them.

How that gap plays out will shape patient trust, clinical relationships and commercial opportunity across the women’s health industry for years to come.

These themes will be explored in more depth in an upcoming webinar, “Women’s Healthmaxxing: The Opportunity & Risks of Cultural Attention for the Women’s Health Industry,” hosted by the Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS), featuring Ellen Wilcox (Listen Ventures), Jessica Bell van der Wal (Frame Fertility), Dr. Tosin Sotubo-Ajayi (NHS, BBC and more) and Nora Lansen (Elektra Health).

Register free for the webinar on 23 July 2026 at https://events.virtualpro.com/womens-health-series-webinar-july-2026/registration

More young midwives are leaving the NHS before 35 as burnout adds pressure to stretched maternity services, new research has revealed.

The trend has raised concerns about the quality and safety of care for mothers and babies in understaffed maternity units.

During 2025-26, 1,669 midwives aged 34 or under left the health service in England, representing 57 per cent of the 2,949 midwives of all ages who resigned.

The pressures of maternity care, including increasingly complex childbirth and the risks involved, are thought to be among the factors behind the trend.

Hannah Leonard, deputy chief midwife at the Royal College of Midwives, said the exodus of midwives under 35 was “deeply worrying” and showed that too many were ending up “burnt-out within a few years of qualifying because every shift means too few colleagues, missed breaks and unpaid hours”.

She added: “Losing these midwives, and students, even before they qualify, is a terrible waste of talent.”

The figures, revealed in parliamentary questions tabled by the Liberal Democrats, show that 205 of last year’s younger leavers were under 25, while 655 were aged 25 to 29 and 809 were aged 30 to 34.

The number of midwives under 35 leaving the NHS has risen sharply in recent years. The 2025-26 figure was 59 per cent higher than the 1,051 who left in 2014-15, according to NHS figures.

Burnout means long-term physical and emotional exhaustion, often linked to sustained pressure at work.

Separate figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats suggest almost one in four midwifery students are leaving before completing their three-year degree.

In 2021, 3,565 students started a midwifery degree, but 2,725 graduated in 2024, meaning 840, or 24 per cent, did not complete the course.

Midwifery students spend much of their second and third years learning on the job in maternity units.

The loss of staff and students underlines what the Royal College of Midwives has described as a “staffing emergency” in maternity care across the UK.

A recent survey by the Royal College of Midwives found that three-quarters of midwives had considered leaving the profession over the last year, mainly because of concerns over staffing levels and patient safety.

Both recent large-scale reviews of maternity care in England, led by Donna Ockenden and Valerie Amos, identified staffing shortages as a key problem affecting patient safety.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “These statistics reveal an alarming crisis in maternity, with far too many midwives burning out early in their career and in their training. Patients are paying the price, and mothers are left with no alternative but to give birth on understaffed and unsafe wards.

“Rather than throw money at yet more new recruits who quit under intolerable pressure, the government needs a new approach. Through guaranteeing protected, year-round training and professional development we can help midwives cope with rising complexity and risk.”

About 10 per cent of all midwives leave the NHS each year.

However, the figures show higher leaving rates among younger midwives, with one in seven, or 14.6 per cent, of those aged 25 to 29 and one in six, or 16.6 per cent, of those aged 30 to 34 leaving during 2025-26.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Under this government we have a record number of midwives in the workforce and we value the vital service they provide in maternity and neonatal units across the country.

“To make the NHS the best employer it can be, we have introduced new NHS staff standards to improve health and wellbeing support, promote flexible working, as well as crucial measures to tackle violence, sexual harassment or abuse and racism.

“Alongside consecutive above-inflation pay rises, we’ve bolstered the midwifery workforce through our graduate guarantee and recently opened up 1,000 more midwifery roles backed by £10m to help prevent student midwives leaving the profession.”

Department of Health and Social Care figures show a record 25,500 full-time-equivalent midwives are working in the NHS, 2,000 more than when the Labour government took office in July 2024.