Technique May Restore Male Fertility After Treatment for Childhood Leukemia By Megan Rauscher Japanese scientists have developed a procedure to pinpoint and accurately separate healthy spermatogonial germ cells from leukemic cells in mice. According to their report in the June 16th advance online issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, transplantation of these harvested and preserved cells into chemotherapy-induced infertile mice restored fertility without inducing leukemia. Dr. Kazutoshi Fujita from Osaka University Graduate School of Medical School in Japan spearheaded the research effort. He noted in comments to Reuters Health that while adult cancer patients can bank sperm before undergoing treatment for cancer, prepubertal boys have no sperm in their testes, and do not benefit from cryopreservation of their sperm and assisted reproductive techniques. The harvesting of spermatogonial germ cells in prepubertal boys before chemotherapy, and autotransplantation after recovery from cancer and after puberty, is a promising technique to restore fertility after cancer treatment for childhood leukemia. However, the risk of contamination of harvested cells by leukemic cells, which may induce relapse, has been a major concern. "It's been reported that transplantation of testicular cells from leukemic rats induces transmission of leukemia, indicating that this technique should not be used in humans," Dr. Fujita noted. "Development of a procedure to isolate testicular germ cells and avoid contamination remains one of the greatest challenges to clinical application of autotransplantation to infertility treatment." The Osaka team developed a procedure to accurately isolate germ cells from leukemic mice by means of fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with antibodies against two surface markers. When transplanted into the testes of mice rendered azoospermic by chemotherapy, these sorted germ cells successfully developed into mature sperm and recipient mice survived. Moreover, the successful birth of offspring from recipient mice without transmission of leukemia "indicates the potential of autotransplantation of germ cells sorted by FACS to treat infertility secondary to anticancer treatment for childhood leukemia," the scientist said. Several issues, however, remain to be addressed before this technique can reach the clinic, Dr. Fujita emphasized, including the ability to harvest a sufficient number of healthy sperm germ cells for transplantation. "Sensitive methods to detect contamination by a single leukemic cell should be developed before the clinical application to humans," the researcher stressed. SOURCE: The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2005. Thanks to Reuters Health Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.