stem cell interaction with somatic niche may hold the key to fertility restoration in cancer patients干细胞与体细胞利基可能癌症病人生育能力恢复的关键.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Obstetrics and Gynecology International Volume 2012, Article ID 921082, 11 pages doi:10.1155/2012/921082 Review Article Stem Cell Interaction with Somatic Niche May Hold the Key to Fertility Restoration in Cancer Patients Deepa Bhartiya, Kalpana Sriraman, and Seema Parte Stem Cell Biology Department, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Parel, Mumbai 400 012, India Correspondence should be addressed to Deepa Bhartiya, bhartiyad@nirrh.res.in Received 6 October 2011; Revised 8 December 2011; Accepted 19 December 2011 Academic Editor: Isabelle Demeestere Copyright © 2012 Deepa Bhartiya et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The spontaneous return of fertility after bone marrow transplantation or heterotopic grafting of cryopreserved ovarian cortical tissue has surprised many, and a possible link with stem cells has been proposed. We have reviewed the available literature on ovarian stem cells in adult mammalian ovaries and presented a model that proposes that the ovary harbors two distinct populations of stem cells, namely, pluripotent, quiescent, very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs), and slightly larger “progenitor” ovarian germ stem cells (OGSCs). Besides compromising the somatic niche, oncotherapy destroys OGSCs since, like tumor cells, they are actively dividing; however VSELs persist since they are relatively quiescent. BMT or transplanted ovarian cortical tissue may help rejuvenate the ovarian niche, which possibly supports differentiation of persisting VSELs resulting in neo-oogenesis and follicular development respon