Scientists grow human eggs to full
maturity in a lab
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[February 09, 2018]
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, (Reuters) - Scientists have
succeeded for the first time in growing human eggs in a laboratory from
the earliest stages in ovarian tissue all the way to full maturity - a
scientific step that had previously been taken in mice.
Publishing their result in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction on
Friday, scientists from Britain and the United States said it could one
day help in developing regenerative medicine therapies and new
infertility treatments.
In previous studies, scientists had developed mouse eggs in a laboratory
to the stage where they produced live offspring, and had also matured
human eggs from a relatively late stage of development.
This latest work, by scientists at two research hospitals in Edinburgh
and the Center for Human Reproduction in New York, is the first time
human eggs have been developed outside the human body from their
earliest stage to full maturity.
"Being able to fully develop human eggs in the lab could widen the scope
of available fertility treatments. We are now working on optimizing the
conditions that support egg development in this way and studying how
healthy they are," said Evelyn Telfer, who co-led the work.
Independent experts not directly involved in this work praised it as
important, but also cautioned that there is much more to do before
lab-grown human eggs could be safely be made ready for fertilization
with sperm.
"This early data suggests this may well be feasible in the future," said
Ali Abbara, a senior clinical lecturer in Endocrinology at Imperial
College London.
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An undated picture shows a magnification of a lab-grown fully
matured human egg ready for fertilization. Doctor David
Albertini/University of Edinburgh/Handout via REUTERS
"(But) the technology remains at an early stage, and much more work
is needed to make sure that the technique is safe and optimized
before we ascertain whether these eggs remain normal during the
process, and can be fertilized to form embryos that could lead to
healthy babies."
Darren Griffin, a genetics professor at Kent University in the UK,
said the work was "an impressive technical achievement".
If success and safety rates were improved, he said, it could in
future help cancer patients wishing to preserve their fertility
while undergoing chemotherapy treatment, improve fertility
treatments, and deepen scientific understanding of the biology of
the earliest stages of human life.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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