Development of a human follicle culture system adapted to differences in follicle development between children and adults

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K09494
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56040:Obstetrics and gynecology-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Okunomiya Asuka 京都大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (70893791)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 堀江 昭史 京都大学, 医学研究科, 講師 (30535836)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 体外卵胞培養系 / 凍結保護剤 / がん生殖 / 小児がん / 白血病

Outline of Final Research Achievements

When children and young cancer patients freeze their ovaries to protect them prior to cancer treatment, mature oocytes need to be obtained by in vitro culture in cancer types where the ovaries can be contaminated with cancer cells. The nature of follicles differs between children and adults, and suitable culture methods may differ, and mouse experiments suggest that the gene Figla works differently in follicles from juvenile/mature individuals. In order to ensure that experiments to investigate the differences can be carried out in a stable manner, the experimental method of culturing human and mouse ovarian tissue and then culturing the follicles extracted from it to obtain oocytes was studied and certain results were obtained. It was also found that many follicles are lost when ovaries are frozen using the current freezing method, but a promising candidate factor for a protective agent could be identified.

Free Research Field

生殖医療

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

マウス実験でFiglaという遺伝子が幼若/成熟個体の卵胞で異なる働きをすることが示唆された。ヒト及びマウスの卵巣組織を培養し、そこから取り出した卵胞を培養して卵子を得るという実験方法を研究し一定の成果を得た。また、卵巣組織を凍結融解するとかなりの数の原始卵胞が減少することがわかったが、有力な保護剤の候補因子を同定することができた。今後は、安定した実験系と効率的な卵巣組織凍結法によって、小児と成人の卵胞の性質の違いを明らかにしたり、それぞれに適した効果的な卵胞の培養系の開発が進むことが期待され、白血病など卵巣へ転移の可能性があるがん種の患者に対しても、温存後不妊治療の道が開かれることになる。