Restoring Fertility in Sterile Childhood Cancer Survivors by Autotransplanting Spermatogonial Stem Cells: Are We There Yet?

Current cancer treatment regimens do not only target tumor cells, but can also have devastating effects on the spermatogonial stem cell pool, resulting in a lack of functional gametes and hence sterility. In adult men, fertility can be preserved prior to cancer treatment by cryopreservation of ejaculated or surgically retrieved spermatozoa, but this is not an option for prepubertal boys since spermatogenesis does not commence until puberty. Cryopreservation of a testicular biopsy taken before initiation of cancer treatment, followed by in vitro propagation of spermatogonial stem cells and subsequent autotransplantation of these stem cells after cancer treatment, has been suggested as a way to preserve and restore fertility in childhood cancer survivors. This strategy, known as spermatogonial stem cell transplantation, has been successful in mice and other model systems, but has not yet been applied in humans. Although recent progress has brought clinical application of spermatogonial stem cell autotransplantation in closer range, there are still a number of important issues to address. In this paper, we describe the state of the art of spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and outline the hurdles that need to be overcome before clinical implementation.