Researchers have successfully grown a woman’s immature egg cells, contained in a tiny sac called a follicle, to a healthy and nearly mature egg in the laboratory. When an egg is fully mature, it is ready to be fertilized.
The researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have completed the first critical step in the development of a new technique, which, if successful in the next steps, may eventually provide a new fertility option for women whose cancer treatments destroy their ability to reproduce.
The nearly mature follicles grown for 30 days in the laboratory had been plucked from ovarian tissue of cancer patients before they began chemotherapy and radiation treatments that would destroy their fertility. The cancer patients, from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, had agreed to participate in the experimental fertility study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
“By being able to take an immature ovarian follicle and grow it to produce a good quality egg, we’re closer to that holy grail, which is to get an egg directly from ovarian tissue that can be fertilize…