For the first time in the world
Americans have grown bioengineered vaginas for four teenage girls
Copper news based on NewScientist materials: Engineered vaginas grown in women for the first time
American regenerative medicine specialists have reported on the first successful experience of implanting vaginas grown in the laboratory from their own cells to four teenage girls born with a rare genetic anomaly.
Eight years after the operation, all transplanted bioengineered organs function normally. The report is published in The Lancet (Raya-Rivera et al., Tissue-engineered autologous vaginal organs in patients: a pilot cohort study).
All the patients who were between 13 and 18 years old at the time of the operations, which took place from June 2005 to October 2008, were born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (SMRCX) – a relatively rare pathology occurring with a frequency of 1 case per 4,500 newborn girls. With SMRCC, either the uterus or the vagina is missing, or both organs are absent with the normal development of the ovaries, external genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics in the absence of chromosomal abnormalities. All the girls who participated in the experiment were born without a vagina, but at the same time they had a uterus, and in two cases this organ functioned normally.
Existing methods of helping such patients include stretching existing tissues in the vaginal area or creating an organ from other tissues of the body using reconstructive surgery, while the risk of various complications is extremely high. A group led by Anthony Atala, director of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (USA), grew vaginal tissue from muscle and epithelial cells obtained by biopsy of vulva tissues. The isolated cells were grown in vitro for four weeks, and then placed in layers on biodegradable collagen scaffolds made according to individual projects and suitable in shape and size for each patient. After that, the frames were placed in a special incubator.
Five to six weeks after the biopsy, surgeons at the Federico Gomez Children's Hospital in Mexico City (Mexico) formed vaginal canals in the perineum of the patients, into which they were then implanted and fixed in such a way as to cover the cervix, populated with mature cells. Over the next six weeks, stents were installed inside the frames to maintain the correct shape of the organ. During this time, the proliferation of implanted cells allowed the formation of normal vaginal wall tissue consisting of three layers – internal epithelial, medium smooth muscle and external, with nerve endings and blood vessels. Meanwhile, the collagen matrix was completely absorbed by the tissues of the body. The final formation of the body was completed in an average of six months.
Monitoring of the patients' condition over the next eight years showed that there were practically no differences between the body's own tissues and bioengineered sites. All patients live a normal sexual life and do not experience pain during vaginal intercourse.
Video dedicated to the work of the Atala group:
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