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Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation and Novel Bioengineering Approaches for Fertility Preservation

  • Fertility Issues and Breast Cancer (J Jeruss, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Breast Cancer Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Breast cancer patients who cannot delay treatment or for whom hormone stimulation and egg retrieval are contraindicated require alternative methods of fertility preservation prior to gonadotoxic treatment. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is an alternative approach that may offer patients the opportunity to preserve fertility and carry biologically related children later in life. Various experimental approaches are being explored to obtain mature gametes from cryopreserved and thawed ovarian tissue for fertilization and implantation using biomimetic tissue culture in vitro. Here, we review the most recent developments in ovarian tissue cryopreservation and exciting advances in bioengineering approaches to in vitro tissue and ovarian follicle culture.

Recent Findings

Slow freezing is the most widely accepted method for ovarian tissue cryopreservation, but efforts have been made to modify vitrification for this application as well. Numerous approaches to in vitro tissue and follicle culture are in development, most prominently two-step culture systems for ovarian cortical tissue and encapsulation of ovarian follicles in biomimetic matrices for in vitro culture.

Summary

Refinements to slow freeze and vitrification protocols continue to address challenges associated with cryopreservation, such as ice crystal formation and damage to the stroma. Similarly, improvements to in vitro tissue and follicle culture show promise for utilizing patients’ cryopreserved tissues to obtain mature gametes after disease treatment and remission. Development of an effective and reproducible culture system for human ovarian follicles will serve as a broad assisted reproductive technology for cancer survivors who cryopreserved tissue prior to treatment.

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Data Availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this review and no datasets were generated or analyzed during the formulation of this review.

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Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the NSF CAREER Award (#1552580) to AS, NIH 5R01 EB022033-03 to AS, and the T-32 Career Training in Reproductive Biology award to AJ (5T32HD079342-07).

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  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2126 Lurie Biomedical Engineering, 1101 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Andrea S. K. Jones & Ariella Shikanov

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ariella Shikanov

  3. Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ariella Shikanov

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This review was designed and developed by AJ. AS revised the manuscript and contributed to the organization and style of the review. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ariella Shikanov.

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Jones, A.S.K., Shikanov, A. Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation and Novel Bioengineering Approaches for Fertility Preservation. Curr Breast Cancer Rep 12, 351–360 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-020-00390-z

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