Figure 5. Potential use of in vitro spermatogenesis for fertility preservation of pubertal cancer patient.

In pubertal cancer patients, testis biopsy could be taken and cryopreserved before treatment with chemotherapy or radiation. After successful treatment, SSCs (isolated from frozen-thawed biopsy) would be in vivo auto-transplanted to the patient’s testes to restore fertility (black arrow). If, however, the patient has a risk of malignant-cell contamination in the testis; the malignant cells could be isolated by flow cytometer or differential plating before transplantation. If, after treatment the testis don’t support the spermatogenesis then the in-vitro isolated SSCs from frozen-thawed biopsy could be transplanted in to testicular explant from another individual (green arrows). Following in vitro culture of the explants, the mature germ cells would be isolated and used to fertilize human eggs by ICSI or ROSI.