(UK/JP)Gene therapy cures male infertility

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Although the breakthrough is in mice...

 

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991848

 

Gene therapy cures male infertility

 

22:00 28 January 02

Andy Coghlan

 

Male infertility has been cured with gene therapy for

the first time. Although the breakthrough is in mice,

the researchers think it will eventually lead to

treatments for men.

 

" This is the beginning of a new era for infertility

treatment, " says Takashi Shinohara, head of the team

that cured the mice at Kyoto University.

 

Shinohara's team successfully corrected a defective

gene in Sertoli cells, which help sperm to mature.

These specialised cells line ducts in the testes. They

nourish immature germ cells and produce chemical cues

that tell them to divide.

 

The mice were genetically engineered to have a

defective version of a gene called Steel. When working

properly, this gene produces a protein that enables

Sertoli cells to swap messages with germ cells.

 

Shinohara's team used an adenovirus to ferry a correct

version of Steel into the mice. Although the treated

infertile males did not produce enough sperm to mate

naturally, the investigators fertilised female mice

through IVF after extracting semi-matured sperm from

the testes of the males. These females gave birth to

13 females and seven healthy, fertile males.

 

Vanishing virus

 

The virus vanished after delivering the correct gene,

raising hopes that it would not cause any

immunological or genetic side-effects if used in men.

 

" If they've shown that, it's very good, " says Robin

Lovell-Badge, an expert in sperm development at the

National Institute of Medical Research in London. " If

you were ever going to do it in humans, you would have

to know that the germ line would not be contaminated

with virus at all, " he says.

 

Shinohara admits that even if the procedure is safe,

it would be useless in men because they do not have

the same gene mutation as the mice.

 

But defective Sertoli cells are to blame for 1 in 10

cases of male infertility. " Genes responsible for this

are currently unknown, and I think it is likely some

cases are caused by genes expressed in Sertoli cells

just like the mutant mice we used for the experiment, "

says Shinohara.

 

Lovell-Badge agrees. " It's feasible there are

mutations that affect humans as well, " he says.

 

He says that by tweaking the gene therapy procedure in

mice, it should be possible to learn much more about

how Sertoli cells and sperm interact.

 

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences (vol 99, p1383)

 

22:00 28 January 02

 

 

 

 

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