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Fibrin in Reproductive Tissue Engineering: A Review on Its Application as a Biomaterial for Fertility Preservation

  • Reproductive Tissue Engineering
  • Published:
Annals of Biomedical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, reproductive medicine has made good use of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine techniques to develop alternatives to restore fertility in cancer patients. For young female cancer patients who cannot undergo any of the currently applied strategies due to the possible presence of malignant cells in their ovaries, the challenge is creating an in vitro or in vivo artificial ovary using carefully selected biomaterials. Thanks to its numerous qualities, fibrin has been widely used as a scaffold material for fertility preservation applications. The goal of this review is to examine and discuss the applications and advantages of this biopolymer for fertility restoration in cancer patients, and consider the main results achieved so far.

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Abbreviations

2D:

Two-dimensional

3D:

Three-dimensional

AMH:

Anti-Müllerian hormone

Bfgf:

Basic fibroblast growth factor

Ca2+ :

Calcium ions

ECM:

Extracellular matrix

F/T:

Fibrinogen (mg/mL) and thrombin (IU/mL) concentrations

FDA:

Food and Drug Administration

Fibrin/HBP/VEGF:

Fibrin/heparin-binding peptide/vascular endothelial growth factor

FpA:

Fibrinogen peptide A

FpB:

Fibrinogen peptide B

FSH:

Follicle-stimulating hormone

FXIII:

Factor thirteen

HA:

Hyaluronic acid

IVC:

In vitro culture

IVG:

In vitro growth

PL:

Platelet lysate

RGD:

Arginine-glycine-aspartate

TAO:

Transplantable artificial ovary

tPA:

Tissue plasminogen activator

VEGF:

Vascular endothelial growth factor

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mira Hryniuk, BA, for reviewing the English language of the manuscript. This study was supported by grants from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique de Belgique (FNRS) (Grant 5/4/150/5 awarded to Marie-Madeleine Dolmans and FRS-FNRS funding for C. A. Amorim as research associate) and donations from the Ferrero family.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pôle de Recherche en Gynécologie, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 52, bte. B1.52.02, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    M. C. Chiti, M. M. Dolmans & C. A. Amorim

  2. Gynecology Department, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    M. M. Dolmans

  3. Society for Research into Infertility, Brussels, Belgium

    J. Donnez

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  1. M. C. Chiti
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  2. M. M. Dolmans
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  3. J. Donnez
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  4. C. A. Amorim
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Correspondence to M. M. Dolmans.

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Associate Editor Jennifer West oversaw the review of this article.

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Chiti, M.C., Dolmans, M.M., Donnez, J. et al. Fibrin in Reproductive Tissue Engineering: A Review on Its Application as a Biomaterial for Fertility Preservation. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 1650–1663 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1817-5

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