Liu HC, Xie Y, Deng CH, Liu GH. Stem cell-based therapies for fertility preservation in males: Current status and future prospects. World J Stem Cells 2020; 12(10): 1097-1112 [PMID: 33178394 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i10.1097]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Gui-Hua Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Reproductive Medicine Research Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 17 Sogoulin Road, Guangzhou 510655, Guangdong Province, China. lgh99707@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Andrology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Oct 26, 2020; 12(10): 1097-1112 Published online Oct 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i10.1097
Stem cell-based therapies for fertility preservation in males: Current status and future prospects
Han-Chao Liu, Yun Xie, Chun-Hua Deng, Gui-Hua Liu
Han-Chao Liu, Yun Xie, Chun-Hua Deng, Department of Andrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Gui-Hua Liu, Reproductive Medicine Research Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510655, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Liu HC and Xie Y contributed equally to this work; Liu HC, Xie Y, Deng CH, and Liu GH designed this paper; Liu HC and Xie Y wrote the paper; Deng CH made the picture; Liu GH revised the paper. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gui-Hua Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Reproductive Medicine Research Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 17 Sogoulin Road, Guangzhou 510655, Guangdong Province, China. lgh99707@163.com
Received: February 26, 2020 Peer-review started: February 26, 2020 First decision: April 9, 2020 Revised: May 13, 2020 Accepted: August 25, 2020 Article in press: August 25, 2020 Published online: October 26, 2020
Abstract
With the decline in male fertility in recent years, strategies for male fertility preservation have received increasing attention. In this study, by reviewing current treatments and recent publications, we describe research progress in and the future directions of stem cell-based therapies for male fertility preservation, focusing on the use of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), SSC niches, SSC-based testicular organoids, other stem cell types such as mesenchymal stem cells, and stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles. In conclusion, a more comprehensive understanding of the germ cell microenvironment, stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles, and testicular organoids will play an important role in achieving male fertility preservation.
Core Tip: With the decline in male fertility in recent years, strategies for male fertility preservation have received increasing attention. In this study, by reviewing current treatments and recent publications, we describe research progress in and the future directions of stem cell-based therapies for male fertility preservation, focusing on the use of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), SSC niches, SSC-based testicular organoids, other stem cell types such as mesenchymal stem cells, and extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells.
