Revolutionizing IVF: Skin Cells May Soon Yield Personalized Eggs for Fertility

Scientists have taken a significant step towards enabling IVF treatments using eggs derived from patients' skin cells, a procedure that could transform fertility options for millions worldwide and potentially lead to reproductive possibilities.

This groundbreaking method may take up to a decade of extensive research before it becomes viable in applications, but it promises transformative benefits. could help older women have children genetically identical to them, overcoming challenges often associated with traditional IVF methods that involve damaged or diseased eggs due to conditions like age-related fertility issues, cancer treatments, and other medical disorders.

The novel technique also holds the potential for same-sex male couples to conceive offspring sharing their genetic heritage, through the use of donor egg fertilized with sperm from one partner - a process currently unavlable even with IVF methods. The procedure works by first obtning skin cells from patients, transferring the nucleus of these cells into an egg cell after its own nucleus is removed. ing egg then undergoes natural processes that reduce it to half its chromosome count, ensuring upon fertilization the offspring will have precisely the correct genetic content.

This method was inspired and adapted from techniques used in creating Dolly the sheep over two decades ago, marking a significant leap forward from pioneering animal cloning research. Aleksei Mikhalchenko of Oregon Health Science University emphasized that this process represents a path to parenthood currently unavlable even with IVF, allowing infertile individuals to have children who are genetically related.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, one of the study's senior authors, stated his team has been working tirelessly for two decades on fertility treatments tlored for patients suffering from infertility due to a lack of healthy sperm or eggs. He notes that existing solutions typically necessitate resorting to donor sperm or eggs and having genetically unrelated offspring.

By enabling infertile patients to have children who are genetically related, our technology holds the potential to revolutionize IVF, Mitalipov observed. This is particularly significant as scientists around the world continue their efforts towards creating embryos from various sources like embryonic stem cells and skin cells.

These advancements come in the wake of Japan's pioneering work which led to the birth of mice with two fathers using the same technique. The research, published in Science Advances, highlights a pivotal next step in understanding how eggs can effectively discard half their chromosome content naturally through culture processes - an essential prerequisite for developing embryos that are healthy and viable.

According to Mitalipov, while there's still much work to be done before this could become avlable to the public, the potential impacts are immense. It offers new possibilities for tackling infertility issues in a way that is and potentially less risky than traditional IVF techniques.

In , this cutting-edge research represents an exciting development towards personalized medicine that promises to provide hope to millions struggling with infertility worldwide. As science continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, it's clear that the future of reproductive technology holds significant promise for those seeking a family in ways never before possible.
This article is reproduced from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/08/scientists-closer-making-ivf-eggs-skin-cells

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