Give birth after cancer
"Artificial ovaries" will help to get pregnant after chemotherapy
Natalia Pelezneva, Naked Science
Specialists of the Danish National Hospital (Rigshospitalet) have developed a technology that will allow women who have lost fertility after chemotherapy or radiotherapy to become pregnant. The results of the study will be presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) in Barcelona, briefly tells about them The Guardian.
Infertility is one of the likely side effects of radio and chemotherapy. Today, there are several methods that allow patients to become pregnant after such treatment, including freezing of ovarian tissues. At the end of therapy, the tissue is transplanted back to the patient. However, this method is not applicable if the disease has affected the ovarian tissues themselves: by placing such a sample in the body, you can provoke the return of the disease.
Danish scientists have proposed to "build" a sample for transplantation artificially. With the help of reagents, the ovarian tissue is cleaned of cells that could be affected by cancer, leaving a framework of connective tissue. Then the prepared follicles obtained from the woman's body are transplanted onto the base. These follicles are at an early stage of development. The oocytes in the follicles are protected by the basement membrane, so the spread of cancer cells cannot damage them.
The technology was tested on laboratory mice: animals were transplanted with prepared ovarian tissue containing 20 human follicles. About a quarter of the follicles remained alive for more than three weeks, by which time blood vessels began to form around the sample – they provide the tissue with the necessary substances.
According to scientists, this result is only the beginning of technology development. It will be possible to conduct tests with the participation of people not earlier than in five to ten years.
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