[ad_1]
INNOVATION – An artificial ovary was created as a 3D printer by Danish scientists. This invention could be a potential solution for women who have become infertile after heavy treatment, such as chemotherapy.
– Mathilde Roche
An artificial ovary created in the laboratory by 3D bio-printing. This is the scientific innovation that Danish scientists presented last week at the European Congress of Reproductive Medicine. For some women, this synthetic ovary could be a new solution to conceive naturally a child following infertility due to heavy medical treatments, especially anticancer.
Indeed, if chemotherapy allows many women to overcome cancer, its rays remain harmful to the body. According to Nasrine Callet, a gynecologist oncologist at the Institut Curie, contacted by LCI "the various drugs present in chemotherapy endorse the ovaries, reversibly or permanently, but this always causes problems of ovulation." She adds that "any cancer treatment can alter fertility and create imbalances in the reproductive system." Whether it is chemotherapy, radiotherapy (used especially in cases of cancer of the cervix and uterus) or hormone therapy (used for bad cancer). To help women preparing to undergo such situations, several solutions are already proposed.
"In recent years, we have been trying to anticipate to preserve fertility," explains Nasrine Callet, "the fertility of the couple: by freezing the embryos before treatment, or the fertility of the woman: by taking and freezing her oocytes. . " Once in remission, women can be re-implanted their embryos or oocytes. Unfortunately, these techniques are not infallible because there are many losses during defrosting. An ovarian transplant – taken before treatment – is also possible. But this technique is more disputed, because in the case of certain cancers, it is an additional risk of reimplanting diseased tissue, where cancer cells.
This artificial ovary would be a solution to return to fertility without risk of reintroduction of malignancy. Indeed, the scientists at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen – at the origin of this innovation – propose beforehand to "clean" all the cells of the ovarian tissue taken before reimplanting it thanks to the artificial ovary. In laboratory tests, the synthetic organ was able to keep a quarter of the twenty human oocytes implanted in a mouse alive. Scientists also noted that blood vessels began to develop to feed him. These ovaries were subsequently grafted onto seven mice, three of which gave birth to litters of perfectly healthy mice.
But Nasrine Callet is temperate: "It's a first step, it's is encouraging, but not everything is resolved, so keep your head cool. " First because it remains an experiment that will be much more difficult to test in women. Secondly because the relationship between cancer and fertility is very complex. In serious patients, one must be able to take a step back from his illness to allow pregnancies. "We wait sometimes 5 years [avant d’autoriser une grossesse] to be sure that the woman is really in complete remission, but also that the treatments – harmful for the child – are eliminated," says the doctor.
It is nevertheless a potential way forward, and not just for women with cancer. "Women with multiple sclerosis undergo such aggressive treatments and this could also be a very interesting alternative for women with hormonal disorders, who are naturally menopausal early," said Nasrine Callet.
Mathilde Roche
] Updated:
Created:
[ad_2]
Source link
