Spermatogonial survival in long-term human prepubertal xenografts

Although childhood cancer treatments are yielding higher survival rates, sterility remains one of their major side effects. For prepubertal boys, there currently are no options to preserve fertility. Testicular tissue banking, together with subsequent grafting, may become a strategy in the future. In this study, prepubertal human testicular tissue was xenografted. Testicular tissue from two patients who had severe sickle-cell anemia and who needed to undergo chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation was grafted onto the backs of six Swiss nude mice. Four months after grafting, spermatogonia could be observed by immunohistochemistry with MAGE-A4 antibodies, and Sertoli cells could be visualized by vimentin staining. Because both Sertoli cells and spermatogonia survived, tissue grafting may become a means for restoring future fertility in prepubertal male cancer patients. (Fertil Steril (R) 2008;90:2019-22. (C)2008 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)