Biopeer

Fertility hope for prepubescent girls with cancer

Scientists at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem discovered that eggs of young cancer patients could be removed, ripened in a laboratory and frozen to preserve their fertility after chemotherapy. Egg harvesting methods for sexually mature women, such as hormone-induced egg harvesting or taking ovarian tissue, aren't currently possible for girls. "We were able to extract oocytes using needle aspiration from very young girls," said Ariel Revel, lecturer of obstetrics and gynecology at Hadassah University Hospital. "We found seven eggs in a girl of five years old with Wilms' tumor, eight in an 8-year-old with Ewing'€™s sarcoma, and 17 in a 10-year-old, also with Ewing's sarcoma." It is yet to be established whether the eggs matured in the laboratory and frozen are viable, but the scientists think they will be able to be fertilized. This discovery may pave the way for thousands of young girls with cancer to achieve fertility after treatment that would otherwise leave them sterile.

A study at the University of Leicester will investigate whether the natural hormone relaxin could play a greater role in human pregnancy. "It is hypothesized that this hormone in humans may be involved in the implantation process of pregnancy through softening of the uterine tissue at the site of implantation, allowing the embryo to obtain nutrients from the mother and for the placenta to eventually form,"€ said Abigail Thompson, human reproductive biologist at the University of Leicester. Thompson intends to use a model system to localize the hormone at the point where the embryo attaches to the uterus and then study the effects. If the research yields positive results, it could have applications in infertility treatment.

Scientists at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research found that the cytokine called macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) can determine male fertility. The study found that men with infertility problems had very high or very low MIF levels. The scientists further found that when MIF was added to healthy sperm, it decreased sperm count and impaired motility. Yousef Al-Abed, main author of the study, wonders whether the findings of the study could open a new avenue for male contraception, or develop a test for male infertility.

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Fertility concerns on the rise

Women who wish to conceive may do best by avoiding foods with trans fats as a recent study claims that taking trans fats even in small quantities can have significant effects on fertility. In the study, American researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health linked trans fats to fertility problems. Of the 18,500 women studied who were attempting to conceive, 438 women faced ovulatory problems. The researchers concluded that trans fats could raise one’s likelihood of developing fertility problems even by 70 per cent. But they are unsure as to the exact process by which trans fats affect fertility.

Meanwhile, British scientists from Sheffield University have developed a test that could tell a woman how quickly her biological clock is ticking. The blood test calculates the number of eggs in a woman’s ovaries and determines whether her fertility is on a downward spiral. This test, named Plan Ahead is the first fertility test to bring together pituitary hormone FSH and ovarian hormones inhibin B and AMH, as they are responsible for the number of eggs. With an increasing number of women preferring to have babies at a later stage in life, this test can help them prioritize between career and family.

On the other hand, Indian researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, have uncovered the disturbing fact that Indian women as young as 30 are reaching menopause. While 3.1 per cent women reach menopause between 30 and 34 years, 8 per cent do so between 35 and 39 years of age. Also, such premature menopause is more common in the rural areas than in the urban areas. However, women who wish to marry late have no cause for concern as giving birth at a later age delays the onset of menopause.

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New method for freezing their eggs gives hope to women

Japanese experts have brought new hope for women through the formulation of an innovative technique to freeze human eggs. The technique is being hailed as a major advancement in reproductive technology.

Doctors from the Kato Ladies clinic in Tokyo developed the Cryotop method to freeze eggs for a significantly longer period of time. A woman's eggs contain water. When they are frozen using the standard slow-freeze technique, ice crystals are formed. These crystals damage the structure and DNA of the egg. However, the new technique uses a process known as vitrification. The eggs are rapidly frozen in a solution, thus preventing crystal formation. Dr Masashige Kuwayama and his team froze 111 eggs and successfully thawed 94.5 per cent of them using their Cryotop method. They achieved a pregnancy rate of 41.9 per cent following in-vitro fertilization (IVF), compared to 42.5 per cent with fresh eggs. The results were reported during the international conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) at Prague.

Experts are calling the technique “a major improvement” as it comes as a great boost for young women who have to undergo severe treatment for diseases like cancer. Such treatments can make women infertile. However, now they can have babies by storing their eggs before the treatment. The chances have increased from one in 100 eggs in the traditional method to 10 in 100 eggs with the new method. Eleven babies have already been born using the new method. Women who want to delay giving birth so as to advance in their careers are also opting for this technique.

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Research on hormone based male contraceptive underway

A study team, led by Dr Peter Liu of the Department of Andrology at Concord Hospital and ANZAC Research Institute of the University of Sydney, Australia, is working on a hormone-based male contraceptive, which is likely to be available in the market in about 5–10 years.

Results of a trial conducted in Sydney three years ago found that that a hormone based treatment can switch on and off sperm production. Results of trials from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Indonesia and Melbourne, have also found a 100 per cent success rate with the injections and pills of male hormones. During 1990-2005, 30 trials involving 1,549 healthy men were conducted. The results of these trials show that the sperm counts return to normal within four months after the hormone-based male contraceptive is stopped. The trials have proved that these hormone-based contraceptives for men were fully reversible. However, several factors, including age, original sperm count, duration of treatment and ethnicity influenced the reversal duration.

Presently, a study involving androgen treatment is in phase-III stage, and another study, involving androgen–progestin combination is in the phase-II stage. At the moment, vasectomy and the use of condoms are the only available methods for male contraception, and this research could offer another choice for them. Researchers said that these pills offered men a chance to participate in family planning decisions.

Researchers are sure that the sperm count of men taking these male hormonal contraceptive regimens will recover to the fertility levels. Researchers find this contraceptive option very important, as any contraceptive has to be reversible. However, doctors say drug companies are reluctant to develop it. Prof David Handelsman, Director of the ANZAC Research Institute, Sydney, says that the pharmaceutical giants don’t see lucrative returns and thus aren't involved.

Risk for preeclampsia rises due to paternal factors reports Norwegian study

The genes of a pregnant woman and those that she and the father pass on to the fetus appear to increase the risk that the mother will experience preeclampsia during the pregnancy reports a study of over 730,000 births in Norway.

Preeclampsia occurs in about 5% of all births. It is a dangerous high-blood pressure condition that can cut the blood supply of the placenta, which provides food and oxygen to the fetus. It can be fatal for the mother and the fetus, or cause low birth weight and other problems. Currently, the only treatment is immediate delivery of the baby.

The study, published in the online British Medical Journal, concluded that "both maternal and paternal factors contribute to the risk of preeclampsia. The risk through affected mothers is higher, presumably becuase these mothers carry susceptibility genes and also transmit independent genetic risk factors to their fetus. The risk through affected fathers is lower because fathers transmit only fetal risk factors."

Men born after a preeclamptic pregnancy were almost twice as likely to father a preeclamptic pregnancy.

Frozen, thawed ovaries successfully transplanted in sheep

For millions of women worldwide confronted with the possibility of premature ovarian failure rendering them unfertile, results of a new study provide some concrete hope. A team of Israeli scientists have successfully transplanted whole frozen and thawed ovaries in sheep, retrieved oocytes from these ovaries and triggered them in the laboratory into early embryonic development.

Doctors have long used frozen pieces of ovary tissue to reconstruct ovaries damaged by chemotherapy or other ovarian failure, allowing affected women to conceive and have children. In September last year, a Belgian woman had given birth to a healthy baby after a piece of her ovary, frozen seven years earlier, had been replaced in her pelvis. Now the Israeli breakthrough may, in a few years’ time, enable young women facing cancer treatment and consequent infertility to have their whole ovaries removed, frozen and then re-implanted once they want to start a family.

In the study, the right ovary had been removed from eight sheep and frozen. The ovaries had been thawed and replaced a fortnight later, either in the original site or grafted onto the left ovary. In five out of the eight sheep, the transplant was successful in that normal blood flow resumed straight away.

Two of the transplanted ovaries bore eggs, and one that was stimulated later produced four more eggs. All six eggs were fertilized in the laboratory and became eight-cell embryos. Two years after the transplantation, a magnetic resonance imaging scan showed that the re-implanted ovary in one sheep was producing egg follicles.

The advantage of transplanting whole ovaries is that the blood vessels can be kept intact for grafting back. Although the most obvious application of the technique is in cancer patients at a risk of infertility, yet researchers say it also offers the hope that whole organs of a body might be able to be frozen and later transplanted. But more research needs to be done to figure out whether the strategy works in humans and is safe.

Canadian discovery could give hope to millions of women

Millions of women lose their babies every year due to a late term miscarriage, miscarriages that occur in the last trimesters of pregnancy, but the discovery of a gene by Canadian scientists may give hope and a future treatment—The Globe and Mail- Canadians find gene tied to late miscarriage.  A team of doctors and researchers have found that some women are deficient in an enzyme that is critical to placental growth, and this causes both late-term miscarriages and low-birth weight babies.

 

While the genetic test is still in development and a treatment in the research stage, even that this point some women involved in the study are able to be more closely monitored now understanding what the underlying cause of their problem is.

 

Late-term miscarriage is the second leading cause of infant death after premature birth in the Western world.

 

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