Pre-pubertal boys affected by cancer can now preserve their fertility

Pre-pubertal boys affected by cancer can now preserve their fertility
For the first time in the country, the Centre for Fertility Preservation, KMC Manipal has achieved a milestone by providing fertility preservation care to the cancer affected prepubertal boys.

‘India is seeing increased incidence of childhood cancer in boys and due to advancements in cancer treatment, there is a tremendous increase in the number of cancer survivors. However, oncofertility (fertility preservation) research in India is still in its infancy and we are glad that Fertility Preservation Centre has taken a challenging task to help cancer affected boys’ said Dr Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor of Manipal University. The centre has consortium members from specialities such as IVFscientists, Paediatricians, Oncologists, Surgeons and Gynaecologists. ‘As India does not have such specialized facility, our centre will soon serve as a national resource for cancer affected children so that testicular tissues collected from the other hospitals anywhere in the country can be transported to Manipal for banking purpose ‘ said Dr Satish Kumar Adiga, who is heading the fertility preservation program in Manipal. (Read: Women carrying breast cancer genes also have a low fertility)

Using animal models, several advancements are being made in this direction in Germany and other European countries to successfully cryopreserve pre pubertal germ cells and derive mature spermatozoa outside the body but so far, this approach is purely experimental. ‘We are collaborating with various research institutes in the world including Manipal University to develop a technique of mimicking the entire process of mammalian spermatogenesis in a culture dish ‘ said Dr Stefan Schlatt an Adjunct Professor to Manipal University who is also heading the fertility preservation program in Germany and has a special interest in fertility preservation for oncological paediatric patients.  ‘However, due to increased risk, blood born cancers will not be the first choice as it appears difficult to transfer cells from these patients due to absence of efficient sorting of cancer cells and expansion strategies ‘ he added. (Read: 10 effective tips for improving male fertility)

‘Our collaborator in Muenster and many European partners have opened cryobanks in Europe and that standards are developed to harmonize and optimize procedures. Manipal will soon join these network as a first in India’ said Dr Adiga. Germ cells are retrieved from one of the testicles by a simple biopsy before the commencement of the cancer therapy. ‘This is relatively a simple surgical procedure and does not affect the future sexual function of the children’ said Dr Vijaykumar, a paediatric surgeon who performed the surgical removal of germ cells from the testis. (Read: Cancer survivors more likely to hit early menopause, should preserve fertility)

‘This is a significant step forward towards providing fertility care by our team’ said Dr Poornima Baliga, Dean, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. The centre is also involved in cutting edge research on key issues such as isolation, preservation, and effective derivation of testicular stem cells and their subsequent differentiation into functionally competent spermatozoa by various approaches.’Interestingly, we are seeing promising results with Indian medicinal plants in protecting male germ cells from cancer treatment induced toxic effects’ said one of the senior researchers in the centre Dr Guruprasad Kalthur who has a special interest in chemo protection.  Alexander von Humboldt foundation which is a non-profit organization established by the Federal Republic of Germany to promote international research cooperation is supporting the activities of the centre with other Indian agencies such as Department of Science and Technology and Indian Council of Medical Research.

Press release

Image source: Getty images (Image for representational purpose only)

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