June 20, 2005

scientists comment on sperm and egg stem cell breakthrough

These comments are in response to findings presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that precursors to sperm and egg cells can be created from stem cells.

Professor Harry Moore, Section of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, University of Sheffield, said:

“It is early days with this research, but the findings are significant as they indicate that human embryonic stem cells produce the germ cells in the lab that eventually generate sperm and eggs. We have also detected some later stages of sperm development. Our research confirms with human cells what has been shown previously with the laboratory mouse.

“But any clinical treatment using this approach may be many years away. We would need to prove that sperm or eggs produced in this way were safe before we could contemplate using them to treat patients.

“We can use this technique to study how the earliest germ cells develop in humans and test in the lab the effect that environmental pollutants may have on this process. There is currently a lot of concern that chemicals might affect this embryological process and cause reproductive abnormalities and infertility.”

Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield and Secretary of the British Fertility Society, said:

“implications for the way we could undertake research studies to investigate the processes of egg and sperm development. We still don’t really understand why some men and women can’t produce sperm and eggs of their own, and sadly for them that leads to infertility. But if we could better understand the basic biology then we might be in a better position to help them one day.”

Anna Smajdor, Researcher in Medical Ethics at Imperial College London, said:

“In the future this technology would offer an obvious solution to infertile couples, obviating the need for donor gametes, but it opens new and challenging possibilities: because the technique can be used to generate eggs from a man’s somatic cells gay couples could have children genetically related to both. Single men could even produce a child using their own sperm and an engineered egg, opening the way to a new form of cloning. Women’s fertility would no longer need to be curtailed at the menopause. These possibilities raise new questions about how we define parenthood and about how we decide who has access to these new technologies.”