Could revolutionize infertility treatment.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Scientists are claiming they have grown sperm cells inside a laboratory for the first time, which if corroborated, could revolutionize infertility treatments for men.
A company in France claims to have taken the unprecedented step of turning scraps of genetic material into complete fully-functioning sperm, reported U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail. Allegedly, the lab managed to transform basic male fertility cells, called spermatogonia, into mature sperm in test tubes.
The Kallistem laboratory, a private research facility based in Lyon, hopes to be able to carry out clinical trials that would assist the birth of a human baby by 2017.
However, because the findings have not been published, peer reviewed or independently verified, the Daily Mail noted British experts were taking the news with a hefty serving of salt.
“This is a bold claim to make and we have had our fingers burnt before with people making this claim,” said Professor Allan Pacey, an expert in male fertility at the University of Sheffield, to the Daily Mail. “Claims like this can often cause heartache for infertile couples who see them as hope only to have their hopes dashed later when it doesn’t translate into an available procedure,” he continued.
Professor Israel Nisand, co-founder of the European Bioethics Forum, also advised caution when he spoke to the Daily Mail, but said that if the procedure is verified, thousands of men could benefit from the potential medical breakthrough.
“If this is true it is a considerable step forward in treating male sterility,” he stated.
Scientists have been trying for 15 years to develop a procedure to extract immature spermatogonia from infertile men, turn it into mature sperm, and use in vitro fertilization to create a new human life.
Scientists have demonstrated they can artificially replicate the procedure in mice, reported the Daily Mail, but if Kallistem’s claims are true, it could mark the first time human cells have been involved.