Australian experts warn that a frequent cancer therapy may affect women’s fertility.
Oncologists from Monash University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center found that immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) could destroy eggs in mice ovaries and interfere with ovulation and fertility.
ICIs, which are often used to treat breast malignancies, were thought to be safer than chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which can cause infertility and early menopause. Friday, Nature Cancer published their study online.
Professor Sherene Loi of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center said clinical trials are needed to determine the ICI’s effects on female cancer survivors’ fertility and hormonal health.
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Loi also proposed egg or embryo freezing for female cancer patients scheduled to receive ICI treatment due to reproductive difficulties.
“These actions must be undertaken as quickly as feasible,” she stated.
Monash University PhD candidate Lauren Alesi said the ICI study showed the need for “caution by clinicians and their patients”
Alesi says these treatments were once thought to have less off-target effects than chemotherapy and radiation.
These drugs cause inflammation in different organ systems.
Alesi feels alternative types of immunotherapy should be evaluated.
“Our discoveries may have ramifications for future immunotherapies,” she added, because they found a link between immune cells, the communication molecules (cytokines) they release, and controlling fertility.
