US EditionBoys with cancer can face infertility as adults. Can storing their stem cells help?
- In November 2023, Jaiwen Hsu, now 26, became the first adult to receive a transplant of his own sperm-producing stem cells, which were frozen when he was 11 due to bone cancer treatment, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
- Approximately one in three childhood cancer survivors face infertility due to treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, while 85% now survive to adulthood, highlighting the need for fertility preservation options.
- Pitt reproductive scientist Kyle Orwig, whose research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, has been studying and implementing testicular cell preservation since 2011, freezing samples from about 1,000 prepubertal boys and achieving a healthy monkey birth in 2019 using similar techniques.
- According to Orwig, they are 'not expecting a miracle result' from the transplant, while Hsu states that even if the transplant is unsuccessful, it will guide further research, and researcher Ellen Goossens of Vrije Universiteit Brussel believes 'These developments are of great importance'.
- This research aims to offer families the option of fertility preservation for young cancer patients before puberty, similar to ongoing research involving immature ovarian tissue for young female survivors, potentially alerting more families to consider this option.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Senate panel approves bill promoting fertility preservation for state workers
A second Senate panel has approved a measure that would preserve sperm and eggs of state employees undergoing cancer and radiation treatment. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee OK’d the bill (SB 924) that would begin requiring the Department of Management Services “to provide coverage of certain fertility preservation services for state group health insurance plan policies.” Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Miami Republican, is sponsoring the bi…
Why do boys with cancer face infertility risks later in life?
Cancer in boys and its effects on fertility are a growing concern, as treatments like chemotherapy can cause infertility. A groundbreaking stem cell transplant offers hope for restoring fertility in childhood cancer survivors.
Boys with cancer can face infertility as adults. Can storing their stem cells help?
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who battled childhood cancer has received the first known transplant of sperm-producing stem cells, in a study aimed at restoring the fertility of cancer’s youngest survivors. Jaiwen Hsu was 11 when a leg injury turned out to be bone cancer. Doctors thought grueling chemotherapy could save him but likely leave him infertile. His parents learned researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center were freezing testi…
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