Stem Cell hope for fertility treatment

20/06/2005

CSCB scientists Professor Harry Moore and Mr Behrouz Alfatoonian are this week presenting research findings at the 'European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology's (ESHRE) annual conference that will reveal that human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could have a future role in fertility treatment.

Work at the Centre has confirmed that some hESCs have similar genetic profiles to primordial germ cells. Primordial germ cells develop during embryonic development in to the human reproductive cells eggs or sperm.

It is possible to grow hESCs in culture as clumps of cells and these are described as embryoid bodies because of their similarity to early embryonic cell development. It was discovered that during this growth, some of the stem cells express genes which are also expressed by primordial germ cells. These findings suggest that, ultimately, it may be possible to produce sperm and eggs from stem cells to use in assisted conception treatments.

British Fertility Society secretary Dr Allan Pacey described the research as an "exciting step forward that has huge implications for the way we could undertake research studies to investigate the processes of egg and sperm development. We still don't really understand why some men and women can't produce sperm and eggs of their own, and sadly for them that leads to infertility. But if we could better understand the basic biology then we might be in a better position to help them one day."

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