I recently ran across an article by Fiona Macrae written on October 29, 2009 from Mail Online entitled “No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells”. I proceeded to read this article before I read the actual scientific manuscript that it was based on; the article itself makes several very big claims: 1) the research could change the face of parenthood, 2) the research could be the cure for infertility and 3) it may soon be possible for children to be born through entirely artificial means. For the last few years, there have been several outrageous media outlets that make a practice of taking an interesting scientific manuscript and sensationalizing it as a cure for infertility, etc.

Egg and Sperm Image: Alison Kim

I continued on and read the original scientific paper they were describing in the column, “Human DAZL, DAZ and BOULE genes modulate primordial germ-cell and haploid gamete formation;” an article published in this month’s issue of Nature. It truly is a super paper describing the role the DAZL, DAZ, and BOULE genes play in the progression of embryonic stem cells to primordial germ cells (PGCs) and the subsequent development into a haploid gamete. Interestingly, this group isolated fluorescently-tagged PGCs that were developed from embryonic stem cells in culture (previously shown), but for the first time demonstrated that DAZL, DAZ, and BOULE are upregulated in order to induce these PGCs to begin meiosis and then arrest at early prophase of meiosis I.

What the scientific paper did not describe, or even hint at, was that this science would be a cure for infertility.  What this paper does, however, is attempt to clarify another step in the process of early germ cell formation that may be used as a tool for elucidating critical steps in male and female infertility. There is not one simple solution to infertility. I urge all scientists and non-scientists to be objective about outrageous claims that are made about cures and answers and to read the actual scientific papers and find the true messages behind the science.

Recently, WBEZ Chicago’s Eight Forty-Eight came to the Oncofertility Consortium to interview Dr. Woodruff about fertility preservation for cancer patients.  While the interview mainly discussed new techniques that will provide hope for cancer patients facing potential infertility, the interview also discussed the Illinois Women’s Health Registry and the Oncofertility Saturday Academy.

From the WBEZ website:

Last year, Dr. Teresa Woodruff won a $21 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create the Oncofertility Consortium. There she hopes to develop new fertility treatments for people who have undergone treatment for cancer. While many people can survive a cancer diagnosis, the treatments can destroy fertility. Dr. Woodruff runs The Woodruff Lab at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and also runs the Oncofertility Saturday Academy. It brings young women from a small high school on Chicago’s South Side into the lab to learn basic biology and clinical medicine.

The audio of the interview is included!

Eight Forty-Eight Interview

An article on infertility and religion in the context of Oncofertility came out today on the Medill Reports Web site. In “Reconciling religion and infertility,” Alina Dain uses the discussions from the Second Annual Oncofertility Summit to explain the different points of view various religions have on what is morally acceptable when trying to conceive after cancer.

The article covers Judaism, Islam and Catholism and includes quotes from Dr. Sherman Silber, Laurie Zoloth, Rumee Ahmed and Paul Lauritzen, all speakers at this year’s Summit.

The Society for Reproductive Science highlighted fertility preservation technology in a platform session at its annual meeting. Teresa Woodruff presented work on mouse and human follicle maturation. Jing Xu spoke about work on follicle maturation technologies in a rhesus monkey model. Her work is paving the way for new understanding about follicle maturation. Finally, Pierre Comizzoli spoke about cryopreservation of ovarian tissue from cats. Pierre is working toward fertility preservation solutions for threatened wildlife and is a scientist at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Shiying Jin presented a poster on primordial follicle development.

WIRED magazine ran a story last week based on the research article published in the journal Human Reproduction received many comments.

“A Fertility First: Human Egg Cells Grow Up in Lab” written by Hadley Leggett has already gotten 18 comments on the WIRED Web site. People were interested to learn about the study from “In vitro grown human ovarian follicles from cancer patients support oocyte growth” by Min Xu, Susan Barrett, Erin West-Farrell, Laxmi Kondapalli, Sarah Kiesewetter, Lonnie Shea and Teresa Woodruff.

Someone was curious about how the alginate used in the study doesn’t actually make contact with the follicles but still supports them and other people asked interesting questions about religion, adoption and ethics. 

By the way, many of these topics will be discussed at the Oncofertility Summit this week.

The ONCOFERTILITY CONSORTIUM™
PRESENTS

VIRTUAL GRAND ROUNDS
 
The National Physicians Cooperative: Tales from the Front; Establishing a Comprehensive Fertility Preservation Program

Lawrence Engmann, MD
Lead Physician, Fertility Preservation Program
 
Paul  Verrastro
Senior Vice President
 
Center for Assisted Reproductive Services and
University of Connecticut Health Center

Thursday, July 16, 2009
1PM Central Time

This conference will be conducted via Adobe Connect, which will allow you to participate from your own computer.
Please Note: Test the computer you plan to use the day of the conference (in advance of the presentation, i.e. now) for compatibility by visiting: http://nwuniversity.na3.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

On the day of the conference, login to participate beginning at 12:50 PM Central Time by visiting http://nwuniversity.na3.acrobat.com/oncofertility. Login as a guest (you will not be given a login).

When asked for your name, please try to include your institution. (For example: “MarybethGerrity@Northwestern” so we can identify you if you ask a question!)

For technical assistance, please contact :
Michael Curtis at  m-curtis@northwestern.edu. (NOTE: Technical support is not available during the conference)

The presentation will also be archived on our website for viewing after this date. http://oncofertility.northwestern.edu/physicians/grand-rounds-conference-video

For Additional Information contact Marybeth Gerrity, Ph.D. at mgerrity@northwestern.edu.
 
For more information about the Oncofertility Consortium™ visit: http://oncofertility.northwestern.edu/
Information for patients can be found at: http://myoncofertility.org/

Read more about the study in Human Reproduction that was mentioned in the NIH news release today on the Northwestern University NewsCenter Web site here.

Today the National Institutes of Health published a news released based on an article about Oncofertility research from the journal Human Reproduction “In vitro grown human ovarian follicles from cancer patients support oocyte growth” by Min Xu, Susan Barrett, Erin West-Farrell, Laxmi Kondapalli, Sarah Kiesewetter, Lonnie Shea and Teresa Woodruff.

The researchers were trying to develop a way for the in vitro (in a controlled environment outside of the body) growth of undeveloped follicles (a fluid-filled sac containing an immature egg) as a way to restore fertility in women who have undergone radiation or chemotherapy to fight cancer. For the investigation, the researchers took out secondary follicles from human ovarian tissue donated by 14 different cancer patients ranging from 16 to 39 years old. The follicles were then grown in a specially-designed bio-engineered culture for 30 days.

The researchers found that the follicles developed from the secondary stage to the antral stage (the final stage of growth of an oocyte which then develops into an egg). Therefore, the results of the study indicated that it was possible for follicles to continue development even when not in the human body. This is encouraging but more research needs to be done to see whether these oocytes can eventually be fertilized.

(To see an animation of normal female fertility, click here.)

To read the study online on the Human Reproduction Web site, click here.

To read the NIH news release, click here.

Look out for more news coverage of the Oncofertility Consortium’s study!

My name is Ariella Shikanov and I am a biomaterials scientist in the Shea-Woodruff collaboratory for the Oncofertility Consortium. I received my PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, developing a biodegradable polymeric carrier (a synthetic material that is broken down when put in the body and a drug is released as a result) for anti-cancer drugs for local treatment of solid tumors.

The main idea of my graduate research was to generate a high local concentration of the chemotherapeutic agent at the tumor site, while avoiding high systemic concentrations that cause toxicity. Currently I am working in a completely different area, which makes it interesting and challenging at the same time.

My knowledge in biomaterials allows me to develop new three-dimensional systems (using new materials that mimic the 3-D environment in the body versus a flat surface) for ovarian follicle culture and ovarian transplantation to preserve fertility. A matrix (a material, environment or gel) for follicle culture must have mild gelation, support and allow follicle growth. I will be blogging about potential biomaterials that can be used for fertility preservation research.

Marina Peluffo and Teresa Woodruff stand in front of the abstract poster Peluffo won an award for at the 15th World Congress on IVF in Geneva, Switzerland in April 2009.

Marina Peluffo, an Oncofertility Consortium member from Portland, Oregon, won an award for her poster abstract “Cumulus Oocyte Complexes from Small Antral Follicles during the Early Follicular Phase of Spontaneous Cycles in Rhesus Monkeys Can Expand and Yield Oocytes Capable of Maturation In Vitro”.

Her poster was presented at the 15th World Congress on IVF in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this year. Teresa Woodruff also attended the Congress in April and was one of the 100 plenary speakers to address close to 750 participants from 67 different countries. For more information about the Congress go to the ISIVF Web site.

To view our previous entry on the World Congress, click here: Oncofertility at the 15th World Congress on IVF.