Bioengineering Strategies to Treat Female Infertility

• Published in: Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 294 - 306
• Main Authors: Kuo, Che-Ying, Baker, Hannah, Fries, Melissa H., Yoo, James J., Kim, Peter C.W., Fisher, John P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Mary Ann Liebert, Inc 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Allografts; Bioengineering; Biomaterials; Biomedical Engineering; Chemotherapy; Congenital defects; Cryopreservation; Fallopian tube; Female; Growth factors; Humans; Hysterectomy; Immunogenicity; Infertility; Infertility, Female; Occlusion; Organs; Reproductive organs; Review; Review Articles; Reviews; Skin & tissue grafts; Stem cells; Tissue Engineering; Transplantation; Uterus; Washington DC; United States > US; Maryland; tissue engineering; ovary; uterus; biomaterial; female infertility; follicle culture; cervicovaginal; bioengineering
• ISSN: 1937-3368; 1937-3376
• DOI: 10.1089/ten.teb.2016.0385

Bioengineering strategies have demonstrated enormous potential to treat female infertility as a result of chemotherapy, uterine injuries, fallopian tube occlusion, massive intrauterine adhesions, congenital uterine malformations, and hysterectomy. These strategies can be classified into two broad categories as follows: (i) Transplantation of fresh or cryopreserved organs into the host and (ii) tissue engineering approaches that utilize a combination of cells, growth factors, and biomaterials that leverages the body's inherent ability to regenerate/repair reproductive organs. While whole organ transplant has demonstrated success, the source of the organ and the immunogenic effects of allografts remain challenging. Even though tissue engineering strategies can avoid these issues, their feasibilities of creating whole organ constructs are yet to be demonstrated. In this article we summarize the recent advancements in the applications of bioengineering to treat female infertility.