Scientists working on an artificial ovary to help infertile women get pregnant

Women struggling to have a baby could soon be offered new hope thanks to a revolutionary new treatment.

Scientists in Denmark say that they have created the first "bio-engineered" human ovaries in trials using animals. The breakthrough is significant as it could mean that women who would have been left infertile by harsh cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiotherapy will be able to become mothers. The researchers from Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet took ovarian follicles and tissues from women who were about to undergo cancer treatment. They were able to remove cancerous cells from the tissues and then put some of the women's immature eggs into this 'scaffold' structure and grow the eggs. The eggs continued to grow healthily when this ovarian tissue was implanted into live mice. While this implantation technique has yet to be tried with humans, its success thus far is an exciting development, researchers say. Women who are about to undergo cancer treatment can have their ovarian tissue removed and frozen but this carries the risk of re-introducing cancerous cells into the body. Freezing eggs is also an option but only where there is enough time before a woman starts treatment. This isn't an option for girls who haven't started puberty but the new treatment could help these girls to one day have children of their own as girls are born with a supply of immature eggs. "This is the first time that isolated human follicles have survived in a decellularised human scaffold and, as a proof-of-concept, it could offer a new strategy in fertility preservation without risk of malignant cell re-occurrence," said Dr Susanne Pors, who led the team in Copenhagen.