Tag: medical breakthroughs

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Australia: successful pregnancy after ‘groundbreaking’ ovarian tissue transplant

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A former cancer patient has become the first woman in Australia to become pregnant following the pioneering procedure of ovarian tissue transplantation.

The 43-year-old woman had ovarian tissue removed and frozen before having treatment for breast cancer in 2005. The tissue was implanted back into the woman by doctors at Monash IVF, allowing her to naturally ovulate and conceive.

‘She’s over the moon, but still very shocked that it has actually happened. I think it’s a bit surreal’, Dr Lynn Burmeister, clinical director at Monash IVF, told the Herald Sun. ‘She thought she’d die from breast cancer at age 37, she met a guy at 43 and now we’ve used her 37-year-old eggs to get her pregnant’.

Worldwide, this was the twentieth reported pregnancy using the procedure. Talking to The Australian, Professor Gab Kovacs who performed the procedure stated: ‘This could be the way to go for women who want to preserve their fertility after cancer’. However he conceded more research on the technique was needed: ‘Right now we don’t know what the success rate for the procedure is but it has great potential’.

The procedure is less invasive than current therapies, requiring only keyhole surgery as opposed to a large abdominal incision, and also does not involve the use of hormones. In addition, the cost of ovarian tissue transplantation is less than some other fertility treatments available. Read full article.

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Breakthrough in the Understanding of Embryonic Stem Cells

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ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2012) — A significant breakthrough in the understanding of embryonic stem cells has been made by scientists from the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin. The Trinity research group led by Dr Adrian Bracken and funded by Science Foundation Ireland, has just published their findings in the journal, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

The new research describes the process whereby genes that are ‘on’ in embryonic stem cells are switched ‘off’. This process is essential in order to convert embryonic stem cells into different cell types such as neurons, blood or heart cells and therefore represents an important breakthrough in the area of regenerative medicine.

The research encompasses both embryonic stem cell research and epigenetics. Embryonic stem cell research is focused on a particular type of cell that is capable of generating the various tissues in the body; for example, muscle, heart or brain. It is particularly relevant due to its potential for regenerating diseased tissues and organs and for the treatment of a variety of conditions including Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury. Read full article.

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Reducing Sperm’s Swimming Ability Could be Key to Male Contraceptive Pill

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Sydney: Australian researchers may have come closer to developing a male contraceptive pill.

They have discovered a way to cut off the fuel supply to the “motor” that drives human sperm, greatly reducing their swimming ability and opening a new avenue to developing a male pill.

The finding also throws new light on the little-understood reasons for infertility in men, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Read full article.

 

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New Discovery to Improve Success Rates of IVF

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Researchers from the University of Otago, Christchurch, are collaborating with clinicians at Fertility Associates in Christchurch to develop a test to significantly improve the success rate for in vitro fertilisations implantations.

Christchurch obstetrics and gynaecology researcher, Dr Gloria Evans, has just published a paper in the international journal Fertility and Sterility which shows positive results for a test to determine the optimal time to implant a fertilised embryo through IVF. Read full article.

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Mice Experiment May Point to New Ways to Protect Female Fertility

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(Reuters) – Egg cells can repair themselves from damage caused by radiation far better than doctors ever thought, a finding researchers say gives fresh hope in protecting women undergoing cancer therapy from infertility.

Although the experiments have only been in mice, researchers believe they have relevance for female cancer patients and women who suffer premature menopause, a condition that puts them at risk of early infertility, osteoporosis and heart disease.

In a paper to be published in the November 9 issue of the journal Molecular Cell, scientists in Australia found that egg cells, or oocytes, are killed not by radiation, but by two proteins — puma and noxa — which snap into action when they detect DNA damage to egg cells. Read full article.

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Male Fertility Restored with Missing Sperm Protein

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Male infertility can be the result of sperm missing just one vital protein, which is necessary to activate the egg when the sperm fuses with it. But injecting that egg with the missing protein can “kick-start” the vital processes of embryo development, and dramatically increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.

These are the findings of a new study by a team at Cardiff University in the UK who write about their work in a paper being published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. They suggest the findings strengthen the case for the potential use of the protein in treating male infertility. Read full article.

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3 Person Embryo Consultation Launched in UK

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The UK’s fertility watchdog has launched a public consultationon the ethics of IVF-based techniques designed to avoid serious mitochondrial diseases.

Around 1 in 200 children is born each year with a form of mitochondrial disease. Some children have mild or no symptoms but others can be severely affected and have a shortened life expectancy. Symptoms include muscle weakness, intestinal disorders and heart disease.

New techniques, known as mitochondria replacement, could enable women to avoid passing these diseases on to their children by using mitochondria from a donated egg to create a healthy embryo, which would then be used in normal IVF treatment. Read full article.

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New breast cancer clues found in gene analysis

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Scientists reported Sunday that they have completed a major analysis of the genetics of breast cancer, finding four major classes of the disease. They hope their work will lead to more effective treatments, perhaps with some drugs already in use.

The new finding offers hints that one type of breast cancer might be vulnerable to drugs that already work against ovarian cancer.

The study, published online Sunday by the journal Nature, is the latest example of research into the biological details of tumors, rather than focusing primarily on where cancer arises in the body. Read full article.

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Cell Death Discovery Suggests New Ways to Protect Female Fertility

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Melbourne researchers have identified a new way of protecting female fertility, offering hope to women whose fertility may be compromised by the side-effects of cancer therapy or by premature menopause.

The researchers, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Monash University and Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research, made the discovery while investigating how egg cells die.

They found that two specific proteins, called PUMA and NOXA, cause the death of egg cells in the ovaries. The finding may lead to new strategies that protect women’s fertility by blocking the activity of these two proteins. Read full article.

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Europe’s new early embryo test

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Women who undergo in-vitro fertilizationare often unsure of their embryo survival once the embryo has been implanted back into the womb. However a new revolutionary fertility test only available in Europe, called Early Embryo Viability assessment (Eava) test, tells whether or not the embryo is likely to survive within 48 hours. Having this new technology means that the strongest embryos can be implanted back into the mothers womb to increase the chances of a success, and hope for more couples. This can also reduce financial cost for infertile couples who often times repeat IVF cycles before having a viable pregnancy. Read full article.