title: Spermatogonial survival in long-term human prepubertal xenografts.
abstract: Although childhood cancer treatments are yielding higher survival rates, sterility remains one of their major side effects. For prepubertal boys, there currently are no options to preserve fertility. Testicular tissue banking, together with subsequent grafting, may become a strategy in the future. In this study, prepubertal human testicular tissue was xenografted. Testicular tissue from two patients who had severe sickle-cell anemia and who needed to undergo chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation was grafted onto the backs of six Swiss nude mice. Four months after grafting, spermatogonia could be observed by immunohistochemistry with MAGE-A4 antibodies, and Sertoli cells could be visualized by vimentin staining. Because both Sertoli cells and spermatogonia survived, tissue grafting may become a means for restoring future fertility in prepubertal male cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Research Laboratories for Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital and Medical School, Dutch-speaking Brussels, Free UniversityVrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. ellen.goossens@uzbrussel.be
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geens
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Block
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tournaye
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002470:Cell Survival; D002648:Child; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013093:Spermatogonia / Q000637:transplantation*; D013737:Testis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000637:transplantation*; D013997:Time Factors; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous