A successful whole-ovary transplant has been performed in China, according to the China Daily newspaper.
A 34-year-old woman, Tang Fangfang, received an ovary from her younger sister on 5 March, at the Zhejiang Medical Science University in eastern China. 鈥淭he newly planted ovary is working properly in Fangfang鈥檚 body now,鈥� said Zheng Wei, who supervised the procedure. 鈥淎nd our continuous checks show that her hormone level has also returned to normal.鈥�
Tang鈥檚 own ovaries were removed after she developed ovarian cancer. She does not need immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection of the organ because her sister is a near-perfect tissue match, the paper says. 鈥淭his is a very unusual case, because such matches usually only appear among twins, Zheng said.
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The team hopes Tang will be able to conceive naturally in the future. However, because eggs are produced in the ovaries, any child will genetically be her sister鈥檚, not hers. Other women with ovarian problems might benefit from the 鈥渇resh鈥� organ transplant procedure, the Chinese team says.
Freeze-thaw
Women such as Tang who cannot produce their own eggs could alternatively undergo IVF using a donated egg and their partner鈥檚 sperm. But some women might be attracted to the idea of an ovary transplant, says Tony Rutherford, at the University of Leeds, UK, who has pioneered work on freeze-thawed ovarian transplants.
鈥淭heoretically, it could allow natural conception to take place. This could be quite an attractive idea for someone who has ovarian failure and might prefer it to going through the rigmaroles of IVF,鈥� he says.
Furthermore, Rutherford told 快猫短视频: 鈥淲e know that the freeze-thaw process kills the majority of growing eggs and a significant supply of stored eggs. The fact that this ovary in China is fresh means it is more likely to survive than a frozen graft.鈥�
Women with functioning ovaries who need a medical treatment that might damage their eggs, such as chemotherapy, might also benefit from ovary transplantation.
Fertility scientists are hoping they could have their own organs removed and frozen for transplant back after the treatment has finished, allowing them to have children that are biologically their own. However, experimental transplants of sections of thawed ovary have so far resulted in just one ovulation in one woman.
Lack of donors
The Zhejiang procedure may not be the first whole 鈥渇resh鈥� ovary transplant to be attempted. 鈥淭here is some very early work where people claimed to have transplanted ovaries in the early 1930s. But that has not been confirmed,鈥� says Rutherford.
The major barrier is the problem of tissue rejection, Rutherford says. 鈥淯nless the tissue match is close enough, the woman would need the kinds of immunosuppressant drugs associated with a kidney transplant 鈥� which might affect ovarian function.鈥�
There is also a severe lack of egg donors, he points out, suggesting potential ovary donors would be in an even shorter supply.