Scientists have found a way to fertilise eggs made from the genetic material of human skin cells.
It could one day lead to the creation of egg or sperm-like cells for people who are struggling to conceive.
The emerging process is called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) and involves reprogramming skin cells to make them a type of stem cell.
Researchers say it has “immense therapeutic potential” for people who don’t have viable sperm or eggs.
It works by taking the nucleus – the part of the cell that stores the genetic material – from a person’s skin cells. These are then implanted in an egg with its nucleus removed – called somatic cell nuclear transfer.
However, cells made this way would mean a fertilised egg has too many chromosomes. A method to remove the extra set had been studied in mice, but not with human cells.
In the new research, US scientists conducted a process they have called mitomeiosis that mimics natural cell division and causes one set of chromosomes to be discarded.
This leaves a healthy cell that can be fertilised.
Eighty-two developing eggs – known as oocytes – were fertilised with sperm in a lab using this method – and one in 10 went on to the stage where cells rapidly divide about six days later (the blastocyst stage).
This is when they would usually be transferred to the uterus in IVF treatment.
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Experts in the UK said it was exciting work but stressed more research was needed.
Ying Cheong, a professor of reproductive medicine and consultant at the University of Southampton, called it an “exciting proof of concept”.
“For the first time, scientists have shown that DNA from ordinary body cells can be placed into an egg, activated, and made to halve its chromosomes, mimicking the special steps that normally create eggs and sperm.”
The professor said it could one day transform the understanding of infertility and miscarriage and “open the door to creating egg or sperm-like cells for those who have no other options”.
Richard Anderson, professor of clinical reproductive science at the University of Edinburgh, said it showed “genetic material from skin cells can be used to generate an egg-like cell with the right number of chromosomes to be fertilised and develop into an early embryo.”
