Engineering an immuno-isolating hydrogel for restoring ovarian endocrine function

项目摘要 卵巢早衰（POI）是抗癌治疗的常见并发症，如 如化疗和骨髓移植，由于治疗毒性。女性癌症 幸存者POI导致不育和卵巢内分泌功能的丧失，这反过来又导致 过早骨质减少、肌肉萎缩和加速心血管疾病。这些长- 长期影响很大，特别是对进入青春期的少女。的长期目标 我们的研究是开发一种方法来恢复年轻女性的卵巢内分泌功能， 利用同种异体卵巢组织移植实现POI。我们设计了一种免疫隔离 胶囊基于良好表征的生物材料，并调整到卵巢的独特生理学 组织.我们的方法在使用啮齿类动物供体组织的小鼠中被证明是成功的，但是， 人卵巢组织中基质和卵泡之间的比例， 人类卵泡达到成熟期，休眠卵泡和激活卵泡之间达到平衡 啮齿类动物和人类之间的差异需要使用人类卵巢组织进行进一步研究。如果 成功，这种方法将提供一个临床相关的和未探索的工具，以恢复卵巢 内分泌功能的年轻女性POI。

Project Summary Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a common complication of anticancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation, due to treatment toxicity. In female cancer survivors POI causes sterility, and loss of the ovarian endocrine function, which in turn results in premature osteopenia, muscle wasting, and accelerated cardiovascular disease. These long- lasting effects are significant, particularly for young girls reaching puberty. The long-term goal of our research is to develop a means to restore ovarian endocrine function in young women with POI by utilizing allogeneic transplantation of ovarian tissue. We designed an immuno-isolating capsule based on well-characterized biomaterials and tuned to the unique physiology of ovarian tissue. Our approach proved to be successful in mice using donor tissue from rodents, yet the significant differences in ratio between stroma and follicles in human ovarian tissue, size that human follicles reach at maturity and the balance between dormant and activated follicles between rodents and humans require further investigation using human ovarian tissue. If successful, this approach will offer a clinically relevant and unexplored tool to restore ovarian endocrine function in young women with POI.