Lab-grown vaginas have been successfully implanted in four women

[xponentialshift]

This looks like it could be promising for the next generation of trans* women. Maybe even within the next 10 years!
Note that they do not use vaginal (or other gender specific) tissue to grow the artificial organ so it should actually work for MTFs.

http://mobile.theverge.com/2014/4/10/5601420/lab-grown-vaginas-successfully-implanted-four-women


Lab-grown vaginas have been successfully implanted in four women

By Arielle Duhaime-Ross 13 hours ago

Scientists announced today that four women received lab-grown vaginas between 2005 and 2008 — and, according to their doctors, all of the patients are doing quite well.

"The women were born with either an underdeveloped or absent vagina"

The women, who were between 13 and 18 at the time of the surgery, were all born with a rare genetic condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH) — a condition that causes about one in 4,500 girls to be born with either an underdeveloped or absent vagina and uterus. The traditional treatment for women with MRKH involves reconstructive surgery or painful dilation procedures. These interventions can be quite traumatic — they have a complication rate of 75 percent in pediatric patients — so researchers wanted to find a way to avoid them altogether. That's why they set out to engineer vaginas, described in a study published in The Lancet today, that would be compatible with each patient.

The vaginal organs themselves were generated using a combination of cells — epithelial cells that line body cavities, as well as muscle cells — biopsied from the women's genital areas. Anthony Atala, a urologist at Wake Forest University who conducted the trials, said in a video interview that his team took "a very small piece of tissue from the patient, less than half the size of a postage stamp, and we then teased the cells apart and grew the cells separately." The cells were then expanded and sewn onto a biodegradable scaffold that the researchers had previously shaped into a vagina tailored to each patient. Six weeks later, the women underwent surgery.

edited to comply with News Posting Guidelines

[Johnny Tristan]

Wow! That's really great news for transwomen! Technology just keeps getting better and it's incredible the news thing scientists and doctors can accomplish. I hope transmen get the equivalent of a lab grown penis that can successfully be transplanted.

[KatVonDoom]

Yaaaaaay science!

[xponentialshift]

I guess rather than looking into SRS two years from now I may end up waiting a few extra years for this to become more available.

[Jessica Merriman]

As a Paramedic there is only one problem they face right now and that is Cells/DNA have to be collected from the patient themselves. Simply growing one for implantation into another person has not been accomplished due to rejection factors. Even meds used in successful organ transplants have not worked with uterine or ovarian transplantation. The last MtF patient receiving a donor uterus only kept it for two or three days and it was rejected even though anti rejection meds were used. Still hurdles to overcome, but maybe some day. 

[xponentialshift]

But they are using cells harvested from only the patient (8 years no complications so far, and I believe it said they took 6 months to grow). And assembling individually tailored lattice structures to fit the patients body shape.
I think the only hurdle left is increasing the number of trials and eventually opening the procedure up to trans* patients in addition to the cis population.

[JenSquid]

This is great news. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[Jessica Merriman]

But they are using cells harvested from only the patient

Yes, but it has to be a vaginal cell. MtFs do not have this is all I was trying to say. You have to have a like cell (vaginal) with the correct DNA sequence from the patient or rejection factors come into play.

[xponentialshift]

Yes, but it has to be a vaginal cell. MtFs do not have this is all I was trying to say. You have to have a like cell (vaginal) with the correct DNA sequence from the patient or rejection factors come into play.

You are right. In the article they only mentioned the epithelial and muscle cell seeding. Reading into the study the article links to it does say they took a vulvar biopsy of autologous tissue first.

[Jessica Merriman]

I just wonder if they ever do succeed the cost of the implant could surpass SRS cost's because of greed? I would love to own shares in the lab that succeeds though!

[Kara Jayde]

It seems like they took cells from the genital region for ease more than anything, we all contain all the information to make female and male body organs genetically, since we start with a female body plan in the womb and are then masculinized through the pregnancy (for MAAB). A lot of science like this is decades away from commercialized use, but it's certainly down the road and making progress quickly ^_^

[xponentialshift]

I think it could eventually be cheaper. With the explosion of 3d printing and bio-materials , as well as possibly using differentiated stem cells to start the growth.

I haven't seen prices but I think the stem cell assisted lipotransfer is a comparable price or cheaper than traditional BA. And that is something that one could easily become greedy over.

[xponentialshift]

It seems like they took cells from the genital region for ease more than anything, we all contain all the information to make female and male body organs genetically, since we start with a female body plan in the womb and are then masculinized through the pregnancy (for MAAB). A lot of science like this is decades away from commercialized use, but it's certainly down the road and making progress quickly ^_^

I would guess within a decade. We have just developed all of the technology to really explore these topics and are very rapidly discovering and predicting new techniques.  I wouldn't be surprised if this were a specialty procedure in 5 years and common procedure in 10.

[Jill F]

Maybe to augment the back end instead of using defoliated scrotal tissue?  Hooking up nerves for full sensation seems iffy here.  We still can't really fix SCIs.

This is not going to happen anytime soon if you are looking for the whole shebag.

If SRS is my future (98% sure), then I'm using what I already have to work with.  I'm not waiting around for this to be perfected.

[justpat]

    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26885335
  Just another link same story

[shiney]

Its so wierd i was just thinking about if this could be viable today, and bang there's a post up here!

The results are promising for what they are. There's some bridges to cross to find solutions that would apply to mtf's.

DNA has alot of secrets still. I wonder if using donar cells from relations would be possible help create what we are missing.

I'm thinking along the lines of isolating healthy cells from the main structures of doner relations and using the cells of the patient responsible for reproducing/ repairing to grow suitable implants.

I obviously haven't research this, or have mountains of knowledge in the field, i just enjoy thinking about solutions to things

[Shantel]

You can bet that the current lot of forward thinking SRS surgeons will be looking at this as a potential opportunity to exploit for the vast numbers of MtF types yearning for a fuller life. I can think of several I've read about over the years who self mutilated and ruined any chance for a really successful SRS procedure as a result.

[dalebert]

Maybe this is related. Don't know.

Tissue-engineered autologous vaginal organs in patients: a pilot cohort study

[Ms Grace]

Presumably "vagina" doesn't include vulva/clitoris/labia etc? Just the internal passageway, all the external parts would still require reconstructive surgery.

This development sounds good although it would be major, major, super ultra invasive surgery...they can't just stuff it in there, there would need to be connecting tissues, and god knows what else for it to stay in place and be nourished by the blood circulation system. Back when I was in my early twenties I still would have jumped at this but since I'm almost 50 I'll pass.

[shiney]

If i got to the point where i couldn't wait in say the next thrree years, i'd go with SRS still. As they develop these newer methods i'm sure they will want to adapt it to our situations as there is quite a market for them. As you said too Ms Grace, they would still require reconstructive surgery anyway, so i wouldn't imagine that getting srs would put you out of contention for newer surgeries down the track. Srs still seems like the best bet for now to me.