Preserving fertility during cancer treatment

Abstract

Imatinib (trade name Gleevec) preserves fertility in female mice treated with the common chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Imatinib seems to block an apoptotic pathway activated by cisplatin in ovarian germ cells (pages 1179– 1185). The findings could lead to new ways to protect germ cells from the damaging effects of cancer treatment.

Figure 1

Imatinib protects primoridal follicles from cisplatin-mediated death. Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent that kills tumor cells by inducing widespread DNA damage which activates a cascade of signaling pathways leading to cellular apoptosis. Unfortunately, the ovarian germ cells are also targeted by the drug and activate a parallel cell death pathway mediated by the kinase c-Abl and the tumor suppressor gene product p63. Imatinib blocks c-Abl activity and, when delivered with cisplatin, blocks the treatment-induced germ cell death, sparing the ovarian follicles during treatment. Adult mice treated with cisplatin alone become sterile, whereas mice treated with cisplatin plus imatinib are fertile⁶.