Susan's Place Transgender Resources

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

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. ;)

Yaaaaaay science!

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.

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.  :)

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.

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

Quote from: xponentialshift on April 10, 2014, 11:46:03 PM
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. :)

Quote from: Jessica Merriman on April 11, 2014, 12:49:36 AM
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.

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! ;D

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 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.

Quote from: Nattie on April 11, 2014, 01:27:35 AM
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.

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.

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

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 :P

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.

Maybe this is related. Don't know.

Tissue-engineered autologous vaginal organs in patients: a pilot cohort study (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60542-0/abstract)

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.

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.

Yeah, I've seen articles that specify that these girls have a vulva and all the external bits, as well as a uterus and ovaries, so there'd still be a lot of plastic surgery needed to get us to where their starting point is. (Plus in two of them the vagina was anchored in place against the uterus, which probably helps.)

On the other hand, yes, the vagina is not the most difficult bit of plastic surgery involved in GRS. I do wonder whether even those of us who had the older methods could consider going back for an "upgrade." :)

Perhaps this procedure might be advantageous in cases where the surgeon previously has been forced to borrow a piece of colon and thus render that process unnecessary in the future?

I'm hoping similar technology will also replace foreskins and other male genital damage, as well as benefit trans men, of course.

Quote from: dalebert on April 12, 2014, 01:05:54 PM
I'm hoping similar technology will also replace foreskins and other male genital damage, as well as benefit trans men, of course.

Yeah, you'd think that the possibilities would be endless! I recall an article where they grew a new ear for someone in a petrie dish and thought then that the door is wide open for some innovative medical genius's to come up with all kinds of applications.

This sounds very hopeful for trans people!

I just heard about this myself and thought I might be the first to post but I've been beaten to it.

Here's a video which gives a good, quick summary of the science for those who are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJNBozBtwRg

It's nice to see progress on this front. I won't even kid myself into thinking that this would be something viable for myself (I'm too damn old to wait longer than I have to for my lower end surgery), but for future "generations" of trans people....this could change everything.

This really sounds very promising , I wonder how long it would take for this to become viable for transwomen. If all goes well I should have my surgery in the next 2 years, altho I may have to wait a little bit longer if the financial stuff is not there or could just delay things cause of money issues

This won't be viable for 15-20 years. Too many complex issue's to resolve yet. Plan on an SRS. :)

Ohhh well in that case I am not gonna wait until I am in my 40s to have the surgery then, it's exciting to see what the future will hold for trans people.

There  is also the issue that mtf people lack an appropriate vascular system, let alone the nerves.

Quote from: JenSquid on April 11, 2014, 12:47:25 AM
I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Between your legs.

Quote from: Chula on May 29, 2014, 04:22:09 PM
Between your legs.

HAHAHAHHA

Yesterday I posted that I couldn't remember the last time I smiled well I just read an arrival from the lancet 4 lab grown vaginas have been transplanted into teenage girls that had unformed vaginas.

This got me so excited I had to do some more research. Is it possible for us to have biological vaginas well I believe yes, but although I'm very scientifically minded I'm no expert but all that is needed is stratified squamous epithelial cell which are found in vaginas and identical cells are fount on the cheek/mouth and smooth muscles cells which could be taken from any muscle in the body but for easiness would be taken from bicep or calf.

SCIENCE HAS FAILED OUR MOTHER EARTH. Not this time Serj because if this surgery gets made common it would be amazing even if it costs alot.

Quote from: Elanore joey on December 30, 2014, 05:41:56 PM
This got me so excited I had to do some more research. Is it possible for us to have biological vaginas well I believe yes, but although I'm very scientifically minded I'm no expert but all that is needed is stratified squamous epithelial cell which are found in vaginas and identical cells are fount on the cheek/mouth and smooth muscles cells which could be taken from any muscle in the body but for easiness would be taken from bicep or calf.

Also, bio males have teeny tiny vestigal uterui and bio females also have teeny tiny prostate buds.  I'm not sure how to explain, but the ambigious tissue that turns into various genitals during development in the womb is still technically in you all your life!  If it makes any sense, basically,everyone probably has all the stuff necessary for male or female genitals and the hormonal environment of the womb is what dictates what actually develops :) So between non specialized tissues, we all technically have the right building materials.  I read some articles on Ghost Hearts and others on using cadaver phalluses to provide a stable structure to grow a new penis for cis men that were in accidents.   

Ghost Hearts are particularly fascinating,as they will actually begin beating when there are enough cells in them.  Heart cells naturally gotta pump and they have grown many rodent hearts from total scratch.  They are only about 15-30% efficient compared to a normal, healthy rodent heart,but seeing as they have only recently started growing them, I cannot wait to see if they can start really engineering all kinds of body parts! I am not terribly gung ho for bottom surgery but if it were grown from me, I'd be more easily convinced! XD

Science is just SO cool!