A new publication* has revealed how a childhood cancer survivor now in his 20s became the first person to receive a transplant of his own sperm-producing stem cells, as part of a clinical trial aiming to restore fertility in young male cancer survivors.
Aged just 11, the young boy began chemotherapy for bone cancer, a treatment which carries a risk of damaging future fertility.
His parents enrolled him in the trial at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre where researchers were freezing testicular tissue from young boys with cancer.
Although immature testicular tissue doesn’t yet produce sperm, it contains stem cells with the potential to do so – offering hope for future fertility in young cancer survivors.
The patient is the first participant in the trial to return as an adult to see if his fertility could potentially be restored, although the likelihood is that even if a small amount of sperm could be generated, assisted reproductive technology would be needed to achieve any pregnancy.
Regardless of the outcome, the choices that his parents made on his behalf as a child appear to have given him at least a potential opportunity to become a father himself in the future.
Although this study focused on freezing testicular tissue, with increasing knowledge and multidisciplinary involvement, it may also be possible to surgically retrieve and freeze sperm from pre- or peripubertal boys prior to cancer treatment.
One thing is clear: fertility preservation should always be considered – when possible and appropriate – before starting treatments that could affect future fertility, even in children.
* https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.25.25324518v1.full
Contact us to learn more about fertility preservation or any other fertility treatment.
