PressTV... A new research suggests infertility can be cured by using human skin cells to create primitive sperms and eggs, which is considered as a major breakthrough in the field of fertility treatment.
Professor Azim Surani, a developmental biologist, and his team at the University of Cambridge in UK created the primitive sex cells by “culturing human embryonic stem cells for five days under carefully-controlled conditions.”
They attempted to show that the same process could turn adults’ skin tissue into early-stage sperms or eggs, which could later grow into mature sperm cells and eggs that are genetically matched to patients.
During the course of study, it was revealed that a special gene called SOX17 is responsible for turning human stem cells into primordial germ cells (PGCs). The research team believes that PGCs can also be developed from adult skin cells.
This study will also help the researchers to further understand the nature of human germline, infertility and cell tumors and age related diseases.
In the next stage of the study, the researchers would insert the primitive cells of mice, instead of humans, into the ovaries of mouse to see how they fully develop into animals.
HJM/HSN/KA