Developing ovarian tissue culture methods for fertility preservation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing ovarian tissue and follicle culture techniques for fertility preservation
IRAS ID
264736
Contact name
Suzannah Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
For female patients whose condition means they may not be able to bear children, the news is devastating. These are patients with cancer, turners syndrome and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Many cancer treatments are gonadotoxic leading to impaired fertility or sterility. The treatments either directly affect ovarian follicles, or indirectly via 'burnout’. To preserve the fertility of patients undergoing gonadotoxic treatments, eggs can be cryopreserved, however, this is not an option for prepubertal girls. For these patients, ovarian tissue (which contains many immature eggs) is cryopreserved to be reimplanted at a later date. However, for patients with blood cancers such as leukemia, the tissue cannot be reimplanted as this risks reintroducing the cancer. Therefore, we need to develop techniques to culture ovarian tissue and generate eggs in vitro; this is overarching aim of this project. In addition, we will also investigate the indirect effect of chemotherapy on ovarian function using different molecules that may block this effect. If we can block this indirect effect, we can direct efforts towards a treatment that would render patients ovaries protected during chemotherapy treatments. For patients with dysfunctional ovaries such as Turner Syndrome or POI, we need a different approach. We have developed a method that restores follicle development in a mouse model of POI and we will adapt this technology for human ovarian tissue. Studies will be carried out using ovarian tissue from tissue banks donated for research. Methods will be based on current publications and developed exploring various bioengineering techniques. Analyses to be performed will include assessment of follicle development, follicle health, follicle growth rates, proportion and number of follicles that have grown, follicle histology, molecular analysis of follicle development (using histological analyses of fixed sections of tissue, western blotting, qPCR), and analysis of spent media. Data will be analysed and published.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0526
Date of REC Opinion
28 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion