Cryopreservation: Sask. researchers aim to improve fertility of women after cancer

Up to now, there have been no successful pregnancies in cancer patients with eggs that have undergone in vitro maturation and freezing. (AFP)

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) are trying to establish a research program that could one day help improve the fertility of women after receiving cancer treatments.

The program aims to use cryobiology techniques — used to preserve tissues at low temperatures — to save healthy ovarian tissue from women and girls prior to receiving cancer treatments, which can damage the ovaries.

“Later in life, after cancer has been cured, the preserved ovarian tissue can be re-implanted to allow for a biological child to be born,” a U of S news release says.

U of S cryobiology researcher James Benson says the process has recently moved past the early phase and into public use, with clinical and research programs underway in the U.S. and Europe.

For many adult women, they already have the option to preserve egg cells before cancer treatment, but girls don’t have mature egg cells, said Benson.

According to Dr. Laura Hopkins, provincial lead for gynecologic oncology, pediatric ovarian tissue is particularly vulnerable to the effects of cancer treatments.

This service could give women back a choice taken away from them by cancer, she says.

“Being treated for cancer, whether it’s surgery, chemo or radiation, is isolating for everyone, and I think there’s a real loss of confidence and hope for the future,” Hopkins said.

“These kids also face a loss of fertility and a loss of potential to have normal hormone production for sustaining health. Fortunately, most children nowadays are cured of their cancer. They are cancer survivors, and we need this program to give them their lives back.”

Benson and Hopkins say the U of S has the expertise and facilities required to pioneer this type of program throughout western Canada.

There are many researchers with cryobiology experience at the U of S, including those at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Benson says.

For Hopkins’ patient Krysta Hawryluk, diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020, cryopreservation could have given her the hope that she might one day have her own children.

After receiving a diagnosis in July, before the end of the month Hawryluk had sugery to remove her ovaries.

Hawryluk says she’s raising her voice to advocate for the treatment in Saskatchewan.

“I think that everyone should have that opportunity to make the choice to have their own children. Having that choice taken away from me was the hardest because … whether you can have a child or not shouldn’t be fate’s decision,” she said.