Stem cells used to grow a replacement testicle?

[FocalPoint]

Hey guys, been a while since I've posted here, but I'd been reading some medical journals and reports lately. Obviously medical science has jumped leaps and bounds with the introduction of stem cell usage. IE: Regrowing ears, noses, and other body parts lost due to unforeseen circumstances. Recently they've begun to get a little more clever with the stem cells, removing them from the testicles now to help regrow pancreases for those stricken with pancreatic cancer.

Obviously a transplant of an organ grown from your own stem cells would produce a 0% rejection rate, and you wouldn't have to wait years on a donor list. My question is, has there been any talk on growing replacement testicles for those stricken with testicular cancer? I know the big consensus is "Why bother, fertility isn't important, and hormones can be synthesized." This is true, but I have to believe that men with this disease would be far more interested in having a testicle replicated and placed back in to handle both jobs of fertility and hormones naturally. Has there been any talks by the medical field to explore this option? Would the duplicated or grown testicle be subject to grow cancer if it's created from your DNA, stem cells? I know testicle transplants have been done, but that's obviously a foreign testicle, and only there for hormones, as I believe the donor's DNA would follow the testicle.

I just figure it would be an ideal way of doing things for the patient, but I guess hormone replacement therapy is too big a business to want to start this kind of procedure.

[julesTO]

Sounds like its very much being worked on for all kinds of organs, albeit things would be further along if not for George W. No reason to believe testicles won't be in the mix eventually!

Also, wouldn't it be GREAT if we could do drug testing on stem cells vs. clinical trials, as the article suggests?

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/the-rebir...186721-55.html

[FocalPoint]

Here's to hoping one day soon I can trade my prosthetic in for a real testicle. This could also be a saving grace for those who've been unfortunate enough to endure this disease twice.

[FocalPoint]

So I try and keep an eye open for anything concerning the regrowing of testicles for those of us who met with one of our boys' unfortunate end. Whether through cancer, birth defect, accident, or otherwise.

I know hormone replacement therapy is big business, but I so much rather have 2 boys, than just the 1. I feel somewhat guarding over the sole survivor now, and find myself often checking it for size, shape, lumps, etc. I've even kept a steady facial hair growth schedule, to make sure it's growing at the same rate. It's crazy... almost like this is PTSD or something. I hate this feeling, and would love it if I didn't have to worry about the possibilities of low T some day, or issues arising from having one testicle, whether it be ED, or just attitude and moods.

I'd honestly pay out of pocket if necessary to have a replacement grown, and put in, if it came down to it. I just wish I knew that there was actual progress being made.

Perhaps if we get a petition going...

[HUGOBOSS]

Hey guys, been a while since I've posted here, but I'd been reading some medical journals and reports lately. Obviously medical science has jumped leaps and bounds with the introduction of stem cell usage. IE: Regrowing ears, noses, and other body parts lost due to unforeseen circumstances. Recently they've begun to get a little more clever with the stem cells, removing them from the testicles now to help regrow pancreases for those stricken with pancreatic cancer.

Obviously a transplant of an organ grown from your own stem cells would produce a 0% rejection rate, and you wouldn't have to wait years on a donor list. My question is, has there been any talk on growing replacement testicles for those stricken with testicular cancer? I know the big consensus is "Why bother, fertility isn't important, and hormones can be synthesized." This is true, but I have to believe that men with this disease would be far more interested in having a testicle replicated and placed back in to handle both jobs of fertility and hormones naturally. Has there been any talks by the medical field to explore this option? Would the duplicated or grown testicle be subject to grow cancer if it's created from your DNA, stem cells? I know testicle transplants have been done, but that's obviously a foreign testicle, and only there for hormones, as I believe the donor's DNA would follow the testicle.

I just figure it would be an ideal way of doing things for the patient, but I guess hormone replacement therapy is too big a business to want to start this kind of procedure.

hello
if u ever ever have info on any place tht has stem cell treatment with success pls let me know. pollytucker21@gmail.com

[mpbro]

I was just asking myself the same question. I'll bet that 20-30 years from now, this will be a reality and commonplace.

[Davepet]

I was just asking myself the same question. I'll bet that 20-30 years from now, this will be a reality and commonplace.

I'm guessing that if this ever becomes an option, it will need to be done very soon after the I/O, maybe even at the same time, since joining all the blood vessels, spermatic cord, etc would likely need to be done before they did the normal healing process.

The other question I'd have to ask myself as a 2x survivor: "Do I really want to chance being a 3x survivor?"....

[FocalPoint]

I'm guessing that if this ever becomes an option, it will need to be done very soon after the I/O, maybe even at the same time, since joining all the blood vessels, spermatic cord, etc would likely need to be done before they did the normal healing process.

The other question I'd have to ask myself as a 2x survivor: "Do I really want to chance being a 3x survivor?"....

Well assuming there was a slim slim chance, as getting it once is so rare, supposedly, and a second time, even rarer...

I would assume you would need a lifestyle change, as somehow you're mutating your cells whether through interaction or ingestion of certain hazardous materials, etc, or just by sheer chance.

As rare a chance as that is.

I do believe that some day it will happen, hopefully soon. I don't think blood vessels would pose much of an issue, as I read reports on testicular transplants in other parts of the world years after the I/O had been performed.

[Davepet]

Well assuming there was a slim slim chance, as getting it once is so rare, supposedly, and a second time, even rarer...

I have a theory about that. Back when I got my 1st TC, only the guys that caught it early survived for more than a few years. I will not be surprized if in another 20 or so years there are a lot more TCx2 cases, since more of us survive the 1st one.

I would assume you would need a lifestyle change, as somehow you're mutating your cells whether through interaction or ingestion of certain hazardous materials, etc, or just by sheer chance.

There is absolutely no science to back up that assumption. The current thinking is something happend prenatal to increase your odds of TC. That's part of my above theory, actually.

I do believe that some day it will happen, hopefully soon. I don't think blood vessels would pose much of an issue, as I read reports on testicular transplants in other parts of the world years after the I/O had been performed.

If you have links to that info,I'd like to read up on it.
Thanks,
Dave

[FocalPoint]

While I was never a victim of prenatal defects... from what my medical records show, I did have rubella which is a form of measles, which I'm not sure if that has any effect on my chances. Aside from that, the occasional bleach baths for poison ivy, were really the only harsh house hold chemical I came close to.

I suppose your theory could be true about the 2x's but even in today's standards, I would assume the figures would've adjusted to accommodate the surge in 2x's warriors.

If I can dig up the articles, I will be happy to direct you to them. I know one was in French or German, and was almost against the procedure, but said it had been performed.

I'm still hoping for stem cells personally, as if you were to get a testicle transplant, you'd have to receive a steady stream of meds to prevent your body from rejecting the foreign tissue. Stem cell grown testicles could prevent said rejection, and still pass along your DNA to offspring.


Much to my dismay, no doctor, research group, or bio-engineer has replied back to my correspondence with them concerning this topic. I have extended my messages overseas to Germany specifically to see if I can catch the interest of any scientists and surgical teams with my thoughts on the matter. I wouldn't mind being the guinea pig for such an operation.

[Davepet]

You were not a victim of any *known* prenatal defects. They really have no idea what might cause the tendency for TC to develop. The main risk factor is an undescended testicle at birth, which increases the odds, but they don't know why. Most of us have had no diagnosed prenatal problems, but that can't rule out what isn't known yet.

It took 35 years for my 2nd TC to show up. If you pay attention to the dates, you will find very few others on this board that had their 1st TC back in the mid 70's. The advent of BEP & better testing methods in the late 70's/early 80's have reversed the odds from less than 10% survival to less than 10% fatal. The statistics on TC 2 may take a while to catch up.

While I'm sure at some point in time, the stem cell thing will be viable, I don't think it will be in any current generation's lifetime, maybe the youngest generation. JMHO

If the article you mentioned is not in English, not much point in looking for it, while I can read some Spanish, a technical article would be beyond my abilities. French & German are not in my bag of tricks at all.

Dave

[FocalPoint]

You were not a victim of any *known* prenatal defects. They really have no idea what might cause the tendency for TC to develop. The main risk factor is an undescended testicle at birth, which increases the odds, but they don't know why. Most of us have had no diagnosed prenatal problems, but that can't rule out what isn't known yet.

It took 35 years for my 2nd TC to show up. If you pay attention to the dates, you will find very few others on this board that had their 1st TC back in the mid 70's. The advent of BEP & better testing methods in the late 70's/early 80's have reversed the odds from less than 10% survival to less than 10% fatal. The statistics on TC 2 may take a while to catch up.

While I'm sure at some point in time, the stem cell thing will be viable, I don't think it will be in any current generation's lifetime, maybe the youngest generation. JMHO

If the article you mentioned is not in English, not much point in looking for it, while I can read some Spanish, a technical article would be beyond my abilities. French & German are not in my bag of tricks at all.

Dave

Well if I come across it, I will translate it for you, and post it here. No sweat.

[Davepet]

Cool, I'd be interested in learning more about that.

[FocalPoint]

I received this response to a thread I replied in a few years ago about testicle transplants and possible regen. therapy, and received this response today.

Mind you the tone of the thread was grim...

"Hello, I had my testicle removed about a year ago, because of testicular cancer. I couldn't accept it and I was even close to commit suicide, but then I realized that once I've read about lab grown trachea transplant. I started searching for something like that with testicles and I found that dr. Anthony Atala at Wake Forest institute for Regenerative Medicine is working on that. This a message that I've received form Institute: "Thank you for your inquiry regarding Dr. Atala’s research on testicular regeneration using cell and tissue engineering techniques. Although we are actively working in this area, it is still in the experimental stage. We regret that this technology cannot be applied to clinical practice at this time. However, it is our goal to bring this technology to a point of widespread clinical use, and we hope that we could help patients and their families, like you, in the future. We thank you for your interest in our work. We will keep your inquiry on record and contact you if appropriate in the future. Please provide your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, and email so that we can contact you if needed." I'm so happy that I'm not the one who would like to be normal and who do not think it is all right to have only one testicle. By the way, I've wrote about that testicular cancer foundations, but no of them were interested, but I've found a group for people with anorchia (they don't have testicles at all since birth). They are much more interested in regenerative medicine. You can find this group on Facebook, just search for anorchia. You can also write to me at newtesticle at gmail dot com. Maybe we can organize something together."


I sent the Doctor a message already detailing my plight which I encourage everyone to do the same if possible. Seems like this is perhaps more likely in our lifetimes than we thought.

[FocalPoint]

I received this message today from the institute:

Mr. Park,



Thank you for your inquiry regarding Dr. Atala’s research on testicle regeneration using cell and tissue engineering techniques. Although we are actively working in this area, it is still in the experimental stage. We regret that this technology cannot be applied to clinical practice at this time. However, it is our goal to bring this technology to a point of widespread clinical use, and we hope that we could help patients and their families, like you, in the future. We thank you for your interest in our work. We will keep your inquiry on record and contact you if appropriate in the future.



Please provide your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, and email so that we can contact you if needed.



Sincerely,







Terri Bowen

Administrative Manager

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

336-713-7293 / 336-713-7290-fax

tbowen@wakehealth.edu / www.wfirm.org

[mrskye]

the articles might be of interest

http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/212...fertility.html

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/201...e-cells-zirkin

[lewis]

Hello,
it is great to know that I'm not the one who would like to have both testicles and just forget or almost forget that this disease has ever happened. It is also great to know that my post inspired someone in looking for the solution (the one that was quoted).
I stared my research in possibilities of using stem cells to make a replacement organ when I was in a hospital, so more than a year ago. I want to share results of those research with you. I hope that we will be able to achieve our goal one day and I believe that day is not so far.

So, first of all. The institute that is for sure working on creating a testicle is Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine with it's director, an urologist dr. Anthony Atala.
Here you can watch his speeches at TED conference.
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_ata...ng_tissue.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_ata...an_kidney.html
On Facebook I've found a women, whose son was born without testicles. She has met with dr. Atala and discuss with him the issue of transplanting a testicle (of course she made an appointment for the other reason). She also asked dr. Atala about my case and as she wrote to me, dr. Atala said that if there is a testicle that could be the source of cells, creating a new one is "relatively easy". I don't know what that exactly means, because she hasn't wrote about details yet, but she wrote that we, the cancer survivors should fight for that.
I will publish here details when I will recieve a report from her. You can also make an appointment with dr. Atala and ask him personally. He is a chief of urology department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (of course give the other reason of the visit, for example implant consultation).

I've also find some scientists in UK that work in area of making testicle cells from stem cell.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...=ILCNETTXT3487
http://www.findaphd.com/search/Proje...spx?PJID=37435
http://www.crh.ed.ac.uk/research/pro...mith%E2%80%A8/

Other research in creating reproductive cells from stem cells.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...ab-grown-mice/
http://www.nature.com/news/first-roa...opment-1.12048

Other hormone producing organs grown in laboratory.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...nic-stem-cells
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/ne.../2011/dec/04/1

I've found a doctor in Saint Louis (MO) who has performed a few testicle transplants in 1970's (between twins). Now he is performing ovary transplants.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wo...he-clocks.html
http://infertilitycenter.info/pdf_fi...afterTrans.pdf

There are a few ways to create an organ. First one is to use a scaffold and seed it with cells. The scaffold could be synthetic or natural. The second one could be created by decellularization human or animal organ (testicle scaffolds can come from men who undergo sex-changing surgeries).
Here you can watch Science Nova Now episode about decellularization.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_91_...eature=related
They're talking about growing lung in a laboratory. Here you can read about it.
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v16...l/nm.2193.html
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceno...rown-lung.html
The scaffold could be also created by 3D printer.
http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/i...tors_cust.html

The other way to create an organ is to basically print it with bioprinter, like the one that is producing by Organovo.
http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/03/23/...signer-organs/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=EJlTncToghM
http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printed-bio...55/?utm_source
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/...splay/?id=9049

You can also grow it at International Space Station.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=36118

I wrote to Organovo to ask, if they're going to be able to print a testicle in the future. That is the response that I've received:

Dear Leszek,
Thanks very much for your email. I'm very glad to hear your cancer treatment was successful, but I understand that it is quite a loss to have had one testicle removed. I'm not sure what article you are referring to, but unfortunately right now we do not make tissues for human transplantation. This is certainly something we are working on, but it will be a few years away. The majority of the tissues we produce right now are for drug testing and evaluation. So I'm sorry to say we cannot meet your needs. However, do please check in with us over the coming years as the technology evolves. I wish you all the best.

Regards,
Eric David
_______________________
Eric Michael David, MD, JD
Chief Strategy Officer

Organovo, Inc.
6275 Nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego, CA 92121

+1 917.582.8721 (cell)
+1 858.526.3366 (direct)
+1 858.550.9948 (fax)
emdavid@organovo.com

If some of you consider to look for this kind of research in Europe, there might be two or three countries to think of: UK, Germany or Sweden. In that last country it is the most feasible that they will accept this kind of procedure, because a few revolutionary surgeries were performed there.
a synthetic trachea transplant
http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?l=e...55&newsdep=130
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=I1G1evlXfKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K83Y...eature=related

a lab grown vein
http://singularityhub.com/2012/06/18...wn-stem-cells/

and the uterus transplant
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19637156

If you would like to support research in lab grown organs, you can join New Organ Prize, an initiative of Methuselah Foundation, which aim is to achieve lab grown organs by 2020.
http://www.neworgan.org/
http://www.methuselahfoundation.org/

At the and two articles, one positive and another very sad.
http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/11/28/...within-decade/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1335356.html
As you see, we are not the only ones who need a lab grown testicle.

I hope you enjoy this post and found in it many useful informations.

[dan45555]

Hi All,

I would also like to know if anyone else knows about possible testicle regeneration through stem cell?

It is something that I have been researching for a while but have found scarce materials on the subject. I am aware of the work that Dr. Atala at the Wake Forest Institute is doing, but I think he is the only one (?)

I basically wanted to bump up the thread as I have followed and thought it was getting a bit quiet.

My case is that I had a testicle removed in my mid-teens and the loss has always affected me. I have always wanted to be "normal". I many people will argue that I need psychological help rather than a new testicle and I am sure they are right. But why not try and get both!

Another point is that I have a silicone prosthesis which I find very uncomfortable and also weirdly unnatural in feel. I am interested in developments in a tissue engineered prosthesis, which I know Dr. Atala has been working on. This would be prosthesis which felt much more like a real testicle as it is made from the bodies own cells. Although, the prosthesis would have no real function, it would certainly give a better cosmetic result.

I am aware that my issue would be seen as very insignificant by the medical community, as I am lucky to still have a functioning organ unlike some people, and much more valuable research is required, which I would not disagree with. However, saying that, I think for people with no testicles a possible organ transplant would have many benefits and I am sure these are the people that the organ regeneration program is based around.


Although my issue is cosmetic I do not think that means it is to be ignored. My view is that if someone has a testicle removed it is best to replace it with something as close to the original as possible, not just stitch a golf ball of rubber inside.

Would be great to hear everyone else's view on the issue.

Thanks,

Dan.