Is Ovarian Tissue Transplantation Safe in Patients with Central Nervous System Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumors?

Nguyen, Thu Yen Thi [UCL] Camboni, Alessandra [UCL] Masciangelo, Rossella [UCL] Donnez, Jacques [UCL] Dolmans, Marie-Madeleine [UCL]

The risk of reseeding malignancy harbored in cryopreserved and transplanted ovarian tissue has been a source of concern. This study aimed to determine the potential relationship between frozen-thawed ovarian tissue transplantation and primary cancer recurrence. Three patients with cerebral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) were included in this study. One woman gave birth to three healthy babies following reimplantation of her cryopreserved ovarian tissue, but subsequently died due to cancer relapse six years after ovarian tissue transplantation. The second subject died from progressive cancer, while the third is still alive and awaiting reimplantation of her ovarian tissue in due course. Frozen ovarian cortex from all three patients was analyzed and xenotransplanted to immunodeficient mice for five months. Main outcomes were the presence of cancer cells in the thawed and xenografted ovarian tissue at histology, immunostaining (expression of neuron-specific enolase and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)), and reverse-transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR) (levels of enolase 2 and GFAP). In conclusion, no malignant cells were detected in ovarian tissue from patients with PNET, even in those who experienced recurrence of the disease, meaning that the risk of reseeding cancer cells with ovarian tissue transplantation in these patients can be considered low.