Fertility preservation and endometriosis
Fertility preservation
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) represents an important option in the oncologic treatment of young prepubertal girls and women without partner. Once cured of their cancer, patients suffering from premature ovarian insufficiency having undergone OTC before their oncologic therapy have the possibility of restoring their fertility by auto-transplantation of their ovarian cortex (OCTP). The advantage of auto-transplantation of cryo-stored ovarian tissue is the restoration of both endocrine and fertility function of the gonads. A major obstacle in OTCP is the follicular loss immediately after grafting, possibly due to slow neovascularization, apoptosis or massive follicular recruitment also known as follicular « burn out ».
Based on the LBTD expertise in angiogenesis we oriented our studies to improve xenograft neovascularization by graft treatment with angiogenic molecules, such as VEGF, or to reduce apoptosis with treatment with an antiapoptotic molecule, Z-VAD-FMK.
Labied S et al, 2013 ; Henry L et al, 2015; Henry L et al, 2016 ; Fransolet M, 2015; Fransolet et al, 2018
Endometriosis
While the symptoms of endometriosis are typically pain associated with menstruation (dysmenorrhea), sexual intercourse (deep dyspareunia) and defecation (dyschesia), diagnosis is generally made after a delay of 5 to 10 years in Europe. In Belgium, this period is estimated at 4-5 years. This delay in diagnosis is mainly due to the absence of a biological diagnosis.
In collaboration with the Department of Gynecology (Prof. M. Nisolle), the CIRM (Prof. B. Pirotte and P. de Tullio) and the statistic institute of UCL (Prof. B. Govaerts), we identify novel biomarkers using a combination of metabolomics and miRNA measurements. Sera and urine samples of more than 250 healthy and non-healthy women (with several grade of endometriosis) were collected and analyzed through a NMR-based metabolomics approach. All the data were submitted to supervised and unsupervised multivariate analysis (PCA, PLS-Da and O-PLS-DA). Sera samples did not allow to discriminate between the two groups. In sharp contrast metabolomics analysis of the urine samples led to the discovery of a pattern of metabolites that is be associated with the pathology. This might have clinical implication (Patent under preparation).
