Fertility restoration in mice with chemotherapy induced ovarian failure using differentiated iPSCs.

BACKGROUND: Treatment options for premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) are limited to hormone replacement and donor oocytes. A novel induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) transplant paradigm in a mouse model has potential translational applications for management of POI. METHODS: Mouse ovarian granulosa cell derived-iPSCS were labelled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter and differentiated in vitro into oocytes. Differentiated cells were assayed for estradiol and progesterone secretion by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. After Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) for the cell surface marker anti-Mullerian hormone receptor (AMHR2), enriched populations of differentiated cells were surgically transplanted into ovaries of mice that had POI secondary to gonadotoxic pre-treatment with alkylating agents. A total of 100 mice were used in these studies in five separate experiments with 56 animals receiving orthotopic ovarian injections of either FACS sorted or unsorted differentiated iPSCSs and the remaining animals receiving sham injections of PBS diluent. Following transplantation surgery, mice were stimulated with gonadotropins inducing oocyte development and underwent oocyte retrieval. Nine transplanted mice were cross bred with wild-type mice to assess fertility. Lineage tracing of resultant oocytes, F1 (30 pups), and F2 (42 pups) litters was interrogated by GFP expression and validation by short tandem repeat (STR) lineage tracing. FINDINGS: [1] iPSCs differentiate into functional oocytes and steroidogenic ovarian cells which [2] express an ovarian (GJA1) and germ cell (ZP1) markers. [3] Endocrine function and fertility were restored in mice pretreated with gonadotoxic alkylating agents via orthotopic transplantation of differentiated iPSCS, thus generating viable, fertile mouse pups. INTERPRETATION: iPSC-derived ovarian tissue can reverse endocrine and reproductive sequelae of POI. FUNDING: Center for Infertility and Reproductive Surgery Research Award, Siezen Foundation award (RMA). Reproductive Scientist Development Program, Marriott Foundation, Saltonstall Foundation, Brigham Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (K.E).

A Translational Model to Improve Early Detection of Epithelial Ovarian Cancers.

Neural network analyses of circulating miRNAs have shown potential as non-invasive screening tests for ovarian cancer. A clinically useful test would detect occult disease when complete cytoreduction is most feasible. Here we used murine xenografts to sensitize a neural network model to detect low volume disease and applied the model to sera from 75 early-stage ovarian cancer cases age-matched to 200 benign adnexal masses or healthy controls. The 14-miRNA model efficiently discriminated tumor bearing animals from controls with 100% sensitivity down to tumor inoculums of 50,000 cells. Among early-stage patient samples, the model performed well with 73% sensitivity at 91% specificity. Applied to a population with 1% disease prevalence, we hypothesize the model would detect most early-stage ovarian cancers while maintaining a negative predictive value of 99.97% (95% CI 99.95%-99.98%). Overall, this supports the concept that miRNAs may be useful as screening markers for early-stage disease.

Simple strategy for synthesis of optically active allylic alcohols and amines by using enantioselective organocatalysis.

A simple organocatalytic one-pot protocol for the construction of optically active allylic alcohols and amines using readily available reactants and catalyst is presented. The described reaction is enabled by an enantioselective enone epoxidation/aziridination-Wharton-reaction sequence affording two highly privileged and synthetically important classes of compounds in an easy and benign way. The advantages of the described sequence include easy generation of stereogenic allylic centers, also including quaternary stereocenters, with excellent enantio- and diastereomeric-control and high product diversity. Furthermore, using monosubstituted enones as substrates, having moderate enantiomeric excess, the one-pot reaction sequence proceeds with an enantioenrichment of the products and high diastereoselectivity was achieved.

An unexpected Michael-aldol-smiles rearrangement sequence for the synthesis of versatile optically active bicyclic structures by using asymmetric organocatalysis.

A facile and simple organocatalytic procedure to generate optically active 6-alkyl- and 6-aryl-substituted bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-en-2-ones is presented. The reaction is catalysed by a 9-amino-9-deoxyepiquinine trifluoroacetic acid salt, which activates alpha,beta-unsaturated cyclic ketones for the 1,4-addition of beta-keto benzothiazoyl sulfones in a stereoselective fashion. Subsequent intramolecular aldol reaction and Smiles rearrangement gives rise to important optically active bicycles, which are a common motif in natural products, ligands in asymmetric catalysis and substrates for Cope rearrangements, photochemical reactions, radical cyclisations and metathesis. Different bicyclic structures were obtained by utilisation of various cyclic enones or by performing ring-expanding reactions. Furthermore, two possible mechanistic pathways are outlined and discussed.

Asymmetric organocatalysis with sulfones.

Asymmetric organocatalysis has become a powerful tool for the synthesis of optically active compounds. Whereas early research mainly focused on combining simple reagents as a proof-of-concept for asymmetric organocatalysis, recent investigations are directed towards extending the concept to more target- and diversity-oriented synthesis. As a result of the many transformation possibilities and their ability to generate both nucleophilic and electrophilic reaction partners, sulfones have become especially important substrates in the field of organocatalysis.

Asymmetric organocatalytic formal alkynylation and alkenylation of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes.

A highly stereoselective organocatalytic one-pot protocol for the formal alkynylation and alkenylation of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes using novel chemistry based on beta-keto heterocyclic sulfones is presented. The organocatalytic step is catalyzed by a prolinol derivative and allows for the formation of important optically active compounds. Further transformations of the beta-keto heterocyclic sulfone moiety, based on new developments of the Smiles rearrangement through a process parallel to the Julia-Kocienski reaction, were performed leading to beta-alkynylated aldehydes and 3-alkenylated alcohols. The scopes of both transformations are demonstrated by the synthesis of various optically active alkynes and alkenes. Furthermore, different transformations of the aldehyde and the alcohol functionality were performed. Finally, the proposed mechanisms for both the alkynylation and alkenylation of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes are outlined.

Ring-rearrangement metathesis.

Ring-rearrangement metathesis (RRM) refers to the combination of several metathesis transformations into a domino process, in which an endocyclic double bond of a cycloolefin reacts with an exocyclic alkene. RRM has proven to be a powerful method for the rapid construction of complex structures. The extension of the basic ring-opening-ring-closing metathesis process by further metathesis steps as well as an examination of the driving forces, limits, scope, recent advantages, and future perspectives of these domino sequences is presented with various examples, thus reflecting the high efficiency and utility of RRM in organic synthesis.

Total synthesis of (+)-trans-195A.

[reaction: see text] The first enantioselective synthesis of (+)-trans-195A is described. The structure has been constructed by ring-rearrangement metathesis (RRM) and zirconium-mediated Negishi-coupling, used for the first time to prepare 6,6-membered heterocycles, as key steps. By comparison of the synthesized material with the isolated natural product, the absolute configuration of natural trans-195A was determined to be (2R,4aS,5R,8aS)-(-).