Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, right? According to doctors from the United States, that could change one day. Egg-producing stem cells have been isolated by Dr Jonathan Tilly, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and his colleagues. One day, this discovery could create a revolution in fertility treatments.
Dr Tilly and his team found the stem cells by searching for DDX4, a unique protein that attaches itself to the surface of these cells. When placed in a lab setting, the researchers found that the stem cells spontaneously started to produce egg cells! Ovarian tissue grafted into mice (!!!) proved that these lab-produced egg cells look and act just like any other egg when they're placed in the ovaries. Stem cells taken from mice showed that this kind of egg can be fertilized and can successfully result in embryos as well.
What is the real significance of this? Nobody is sure yet, but Dr Tilly told Nature: "These cells, when maintained outside of the body, are more than happy to make cells on their own and if we can guide that process I think it opens up the chance that sometime in the future we might get to the point of having an unlimited source of human eggs."
On a more basic level, the study proved that egg-cell producing stem cells actually exist within the ovaries during a woman's reproductive years, which had not been established up till now. It's hard not to imagine the potential of this discovery, though lots of women who would now have to try to get access to donor eggs, which is hard and has ethical implications, would be able to have biological children with this new treatment. It's only to be expected that a lot more research will be done in this direction.
Your thoughts on this
Loading...