BACKGROUND: Ovarian failure is a common sequel to chemo/radiotherapy in patients successfully treated for cancer. Harvesting, cryopreserving and subsequently re-implanting ovarian cortical grafts can be used to re-establish reproductive potential in women with cancer. The safety issue, however, is of great concern because residual disease in autografted ovarian tissues might cause recrudescence of disease. METHODS: A total of 30 non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/LtSz-SCID) mice were individually xenografted s.c. with frozen-thawed ovarian tissue from 18 patients with lymphoma [13 Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and 5 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL)]. The animals were autopsied at 16 weeks, or earlier if cachectic. The xenograft, liver, spleen, sternum, para-aortic lymph nodes and thymus were prepared for histology, immunohistochemistry and human DNA microsatellite analysis. RESULTS: None of the animals grafted with ovarian tissue from lymphoma patients developed disease. However, all 3 animals grafted with lymph node tissue from an NHL patient developed B-cell lymphomas that were confirmed as human in origin by DNA microsatellite analysis. CONCLUSION: Ovarian tissue harvested before high-dose chemotherapy for HL or NHL may not carry a risk of disease transmission by autotransplantation, although the possibility is difficult to exclude completely.
BACKGROUND:Ovarian failure is a common sequel to chemo/radiotherapy in patients successfully treated for cancer. Harvesting, cryopreserving and subsequently re-implanting ovarian cortical grafts can be used to re-establish reproductive potential in women with cancer. The safety issue, however, is of great concern because residual disease in autografted ovarian tissues might cause recrudescence of disease. METHODS: A total of 30 non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/LtSz-SCID) mice were individually xenografted s.c. with frozen-thawed ovarian tissue from 18 patients with lymphoma [13 Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and 5 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL)]. The animals were autopsied at 16 weeks, or earlier if cachectic. The xenograft, liver, spleen, sternum, para-aortic lymph nodes and thymus were prepared for histology, immunohistochemistry and human DNA microsatellite analysis. RESULTS: None of the animals grafted with ovarian tissue from lymphomapatients developed disease. However, all 3 animals grafted with lymph node tissue from an NHL patient developed B-cell lymphomas that were confirmed as human in origin by DNA microsatellite analysis. CONCLUSION: Ovarian tissue harvested before high-dose chemotherapy for HL or NHL may not carry a risk of disease transmission by autotransplantation, although the possibility is difficult to exclude completely.
Authors: Andreas Müller; Katja Keller; Jennifer Wacker; Ralf Dittrich; Gudrun Keck; Markus Montag; Hans Van der Ven; David Wachter; Matthias W Beckmann; Wolfgang Distler Journal: Dtsch Arztebl Int Date: 2012-01-09 Impact factor: 5.594