Publications by authors named "N Spears"
Some chemotherapy treatments induce female infertility through accelerated ovarian ageing, including due to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) depletion. Using various mouse models, Ho et al (2024) demonstrate that exposure to two such chemotherapy drugs, cisplatin or doxorubicin, deplete ovarian NAD, with levels restored by administrating the exogenous NAD precursor nicotinamide mononucleotide, ameliorating the drugs’ damaging effects on fertility.
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- The study examines the fertility potential of immature testicular tissue (ITT) in pre-pubertal boys with cancer, focusing on spermatogonial and Sertoli cell populations.
- Researchers retrieved ITT from 14 boys (7 with haematological malignancies and 7 with non-haematological cancers) and conducted histopathological and immunochemical analyses.
- Findings showed no significant difference in the number of spermatogonia between the two cancer types, contributing valuable data to the field of pediatric male oncofertility.
Study Question: What are the effects of cyclophosphamide exposure on the human ovary and can anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and rapamycin protect against these?
Summary Answer: Exposure to cyclophosphamide compromises the health of primordial and transitional follicles in the human ovarian cortex and upregulates PI3K signalling, indicating both direct damage and increased follicular activation; AMH attenuates both of these chemotherapy-induced effects, while rapamycin attenuates only PI3K signalling upregulation.
What Is Known Already: Studies primarily in rodents demonstrate that cyclophosphamide causes direct damage to primordial follicles or that the primordial follicle pool is depleted primarily through excessive initiation of follicle growth. This increased follicular activation is mediated via upregulated PI3K signalling and/or reduced local levels of AMH production due to lost growing follicles.
Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is described as the implantation of an embryo outside the normal uterine cavity. It most commonly occurs in the fallopian tube, hence termed a tubal ectopic pregnancy (tEP). It is a gynaecological emergency and remains the leading cause of direct maternal mortality related to the first trimester of pregnancy worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Primary care physicians not only coordinate referrals to oncology services but can play a crucial role in successful fertility preservation referrals in cancer-diagnosed patients. Hence, it is important to assess their knowledge and attitudes towards fertility preservation.
Methods: An eighteen-item oncofertility survey was administered to primary care physicians between May 2019 to September 2020.