First baby born from eggs matured, frozen in lab

Breakthrough gives hope to women with cancer, ovarian disease

McGill University researchers are heralding the birth of the first baby born from eggs matured and frozen in the laboratory, a breakthrough that could give women with cancer or ovarian disease fresh hope for motherhood.

Dr. Hananel Holzer and Dr. Seang Lin Tan of the McGill Reproductive Centre announced the successful birth during the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyon, France.

“The combination of technologies is what’s important here,” said Dr. Holzer, lead author of the research. “McGill is a pioneer in both the freezing and individual in-vitro maturation of eggs and this is the first time these two technologies have been successfully combined.”

The research involved 20 patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) whose immature eggs were matured and frozen in laboratory test tubes at the Reproductive Centre in the McGill University Health Centre’s Royal Victoria Hospital. One of the women has given birth to a healthy girl while three others are pregnant, Dr. Holzer said.

Although Dr. Holzer cautioned that the technology has not yet been tested on patients with cancer, this latest breakthrough offers hope for such women to also extend their fertility and successfully give birth.

In 2005, Dr. Tan, director of the McGill Reproductive Centre, announced the first birth from a frozen egg, but in that case, the egg was not matured in the lab and the patient had received hormonal medication to stimulate the ovaries. The difference is significant in that ovarian stimulation, which causes eggs to mature inside the ovaries, can pose potentially fatal health risks for women with PCOS or certain forms of cancer. Since then, 20 babies have been born from frozen eggs at the McGill Reproductive Centre, said Dr. Holzer.

On the Web: McGill Reproductive Centre