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A first? Scientists claim to make human sperm from embryonic stem cells
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Researchers from Newcastle in the UK claim to have produced live human sperm from embryonic stem cells. When I first read this story from the BBC, I was skeptical—especially given all the rumors circulating on the Internet in recent weeks. But apparently, the claim is true.
Karim Nayernia, a professor of stem cell biology at Newcastle University, says this method, while years from perfection, could someday help men with fertility problems to conceive. This research was published in the journal Stem Cells and Development. The citation is listed at the end of this article.
In the BBC story, Nayernia is quoted as saying “This understanding could help us develop new ways to help couples suffering infertility so they can have a child which is genetically their own. It will also allow scientists to study how cells involved in reproduction are affected by toxins, for example, why young boys with leukaemia who undergo chemotherapy can become infertile for life - and possibly lead us to a solution.”
Nayernia used this method two years ago with mouse embryonic stem cells. In a July 2006 paper published in the journal Developmental Cell (Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages 125-132), Nayernia and his colleagues applied an in vitro technique to derive male gametes (sperm) from differentiated mouse embryonic stem cells. The sperm was able to produce live offspring, according to the paper.
To create the human sperm cells, Nayernia took human embryos, which had been donated from in vitro fertilization clinics and allowed them to grow for a few days until a mass of stem cells developed. The stem cells—a special type of cell that has the ability to become any kind of tissue in the human body—were removed and combined with growth factors to encourage multiplication, but not differentiation. Using a genetic “marker” the germ line cells—or stems cells that become eggs or sperm—were identified and sorted out. The male germ line stem cells were collected and permitted to undergo meiosis, which reduces the number of chromosomes in each cell by half. Human embryos contain half of their genetic information from their mother and half from their father.
While this may be the first time scientists have claimed to produce human sperm cells in the lab from embryonic stem cells, it is not the first time sperm cells have been generated from other types of stem cells. A BBC story from 2007 reports that a group of German researchers derived sperm cells from adult human bone marrow stem cells.
Some scientists question whether Nayernia has actually produced human sperm cells at all. We can leave it to other scientists to attempt to replicate his results. But more troubling are the bioethical questions this kind of research raises. Under UK law, the BBC article states, this lab-created sperm could not be used in a fertility treatment. Elsewhere in the article, Josephine Quintavalle from Comment on Reproductive Ethics is quoted as saying, "This is an example of immoral madness. Perfectly viable human embryos have been destroyed in order to create sperm over which there will be huge questions of their healthiness and viability. It's taking one life in order to perhaps create another. I'm very much in favour of curing infertility but I don't think you can do whatever you like."
I will reserve judgment on whether the research is valid or even weather it is moral. I look forward to your comments on this fascinating and potentially groundbreaking bit of research. A video of the method Nayernia used to create the sperm from stem cells containing footage of what appears to the live result squirming under the microscope can be seen below.
Reference: Karim Nayernia, Jae Ho Lee, Majlinda Lako, Lyle Armstrong, Mary Herbert, Manyu Li, Wolfgang Engel, David Elliott, Miodrag Stojkovic, John Parrington, Alison Murdoch, Tom Strachan, Xin Zhang. Stem Cells and Development. doi:10.1089/scd.2009.0063.
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