First ovary graft test a success

THE first successful ovary transplant in a monkey has taken place, giving hope to millions of women with infertility problems, scientists said yesterday.

Researchers from the US implanted ovarian tissue into an infertile rhesus monkey, using one of the resulting eggs to produce a healthy test-tube baby.

If the technology can be adapted for humans, it could provide an answer for young women rendered infertile by cancer treatment, according to the team from the Oregon National Primate Research Centre.

Transplants could also be used to reverse the menopause and allow women to have babies into their 50s and 60s, they added.

The scientists removed the ovaries from seven rhesus macaque monkeys, and re-implanted slices of the tissue into three sites the kidney, the arm and the abdomen.

All the monkeys began producing female hormones, and in four cases the tissue secreted eggs. Two of these were fertilised using IVF techniques, and a surrogate mother gave birth to a healthy female last year.

Simon Davies, of the Teenage Cancer Trust in Britain, said young women diagnosed with ovarian cancer currently had to make an "unbearable" choice between early treatment and potential infertility.

"They have to decide whether to delay their treatment for their menstrual cycle to come round so they can freeze the eggs. That can be damaging, but if they don't it's possible they could become infertile.

If the new technology worked, slivers of their ovaries could be frozen, and then re-implanted on their bodies later to produce eggs.