Scientists have, for the first time, created and fertilised human egg cells from skin cells in a lab, offering future hope for infertile and same-sex couples despite significant scientific and ethical hurdles.
Scientists have turned human skin cells into eggs and fertilised them with sperm in a laboratory for the first time, marking a major step toward a future where infertile people could have genetically related children.
The US-led team, publishing in Nature Communications, cautioned that the technology, called in-vitro gametogenesis (IVG), remains at least a decade from clinical use. “It also would allow same-sex couples to have a child genetically related to both partners,” said co-author Paula Amato of Oregon Health & Science University.
Researchers removed nuclei from skin cells and inserted them into donor eggs before stripping away extra chromosomes using a process termed “mitomeiosis”. Of 82 lab-created oocytes fertilised through IVF, fewer than nine percent reached the blastocyst stage, and all embryos displayed abnormalities.
Despite limitations, reproductive medicine expert Ying Cheong hailed the “exciting” proof of concept, saying it could “transform how we understand infertility and miscarriage”.