Available Technologies

Background

In the research of gene therapy for infertility, DNA and RNA viruses have been used to treat mouse models of infertility. However, these viral-based approaches have raised concerns about the risk of carcinogenesis due to the long-term persistence of viral vectors in the host. Also, mRNA-based approaches have been considered unsuitable for long-term gametogenesis because of the transient nature of protein expression.

Description and Advantages

Mice with congenital infertility are infertile due to a genetic deficiency in specific molecules. In this invention, the injection of a specific mRNA into the testes of male mice with cessation of spermatogenesis induced the progression of spermatogenesis, and elongated spermatids, which are mature haploid germ cells, were detected (Fig.1). Using these spermatids, the research team performed intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and successfully generated offspring. In addition, they also succeeded to produce offspring by administering the specific mRNA to infertile female mice.