Z. Blumenfeld et al., Preservation of fertility and ovarian function and minimizing gonadotoxicity in young women with systemic lupus erythematosus treated by chemotherapy, LUPUS, 9(6), 2000, pp. 401-405
Background: Premature ovarian failure (POF) is a common long-term consequen
ce of chemotherapy. Whereas the cytotoxic-induced damage is reversible in o
ther tissues of rapidly dividing cells such as bone marrow, gastrointestina
l tract and thymus, it appears to be progressive and irreversible in the ov
ary, where the number of germ cells is limited, fixed since the fetal life,
and cannot be regenerated. The gonadal toxicity of cyclophosphamide is wel
l known. In patients with lupus nephritis, premature ovarian failure (POF)
was reported in half of all treated women after cyclophosphamide pulse ther
apy, affecting 100% of those older than 30 y, about 50% of the patients bet
ween the ages of 20-30 y and only 13% of the patients younger than 20 y of
age. Following our preliminary encouraging experience in women with lymphom
a, whereby the temporary induction of a prepubertal hormonal milieu, during
chemotherapy, has significantly decreased the risk of POF, we have adminis
tered a monthly injection of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonistic analo
gue (GnRH-a) to eight young women in parallel to alkylating agent chemother
apy.
Materials and methods: A monthly intramuscular depot injection of 3.75 mg D
-TRP6-GnRH-a (Decapeptyl C.R.) was administered after informed consent to e
ight women with autoimmune, severe connective tissue diseases (seven SLE pa
tients and one woman with nephrotic syndrome) in parallel to chemotherapy,
for up to six months. The institutional committee for human experimentation
approved the protocol. The concentrations of FSH, LH, progesterone, and 17
-beta-estradiol (E2) were measured before, during and after the GnRH-a/chem
otherapy treatment. A transvaginal (or transabdominal) sonography (TVS) was
performed on each patient before and after treatment. These eight treated
patients (study group) were compared to a group of nine women similarly tre
ated by cyclophosphamide pulses (CPT) or chlorambucil for SLE/connective ti
ssue disease but were not referred for the GnRH-a adjuvant treatment.
Results: Whereas none of the right women receiving GnRH-a in parallel to al
kylating agent chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide (7) or chlorambucil (1)) suff
ered POF and hypergonadotropic amenorrhea, five of the nine ( > 50%) patien
ts treated by alkylating agents (cyclophosphamide (8) or chlorambucil (1))
experienced POF. Whereas two of these five women were 35 y old, the other t
hree were less than or equal to 23 y old at the rime of the chemotherapeuti
c insult.
Conclusions: Our present results, extrapolating this encouraging experience
from hematological malignant diseases to severe connective tissue diseases
, such as SLE associated nephropathy or others, suggests that the beneficia
l effect of GnRH-a co-treatment may be exploited towards preservation of fu
ture fertility and ovarian function in every young woman of reproductive ag
e, exposed to alkylating agents, such as cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil.