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Transplant Therapies for Male Infertility

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Female and Male Fertility Preservation

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Abstract

Testicular tissue cryopreservation is the only fertility preservation option available to prepubertal boys who are not able to cryopreserve a semen sample with sperm. Published reports indicate that testicular tissues have been cryopreserved for over 1000 patients worldwide. Therefore, the medical and research communities are obligated to responsibly develop next-generation technologies that will allow patients to use their tissues in the future to produce sperm and offspring. This chapter describes two autologous transplant technologies, spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and testicular tissue grafting, that are mature and may be ready for translation to the human fertility clinic. We review the history of technology development and describe potential approaches for application in human patients. Progress with ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation provides a roadmap to guide autologous testicular cell or tissue transplant technologies from the research laboratory to clinical trials to standard of care.

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Acknowledgments

The authors have been supported in research that underpinned this work by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD092084, HD096723; HD075795; HD076412; HD100197), the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation, the UPMC Magee Center for Reproduction and Transplantation, and anonymous donor funds. The authors are grateful to the infertile patients that inspire our work in the research laboratory and in the fertility/fertility preservation clinic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Genetics and Developmental Biology Graduate Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Kien Tran & Kyle E. Orwig

  2. Integrative Systems Biology Graduate Program, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Magee-Womens Research Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Sarah K. Munyoki & Kyle E. Orwig

  3. UPMC Magee Center for Reproduction and Transplantation, Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Amanda C. Zielen & Kyle E. Orwig

  4. Department of Urology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Richard N. Yu

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  1. Kien Tran
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  4. Richard N. Yu
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  5. Kyle E. Orwig
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Correspondence to Kyle E. Orwig .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Preservation, Hôpital Antoine-Béclère, Clamart, France

    Michael Grynberg

  2. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility-Department Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Pasquale Patrizio

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Tran, K., Munyoki, S.K., Zielen, A.C., Yu, R.N., Orwig, K.E. (2022). Transplant Therapies for Male Infertility. In: Grynberg, M., Patrizio, P. (eds) Female and Male Fertility Preservation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47767-7_43

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