THERE is renewed hope for infertile  women if latest findings by  scientists  that a common cancer drug could trigger the development of new eggs is anything to go by.

In a discovery hailed as “astonishing”, researchers at the University of Edinburgh proved it is possible to reverse the clock and coax the ovaries back into a pre-pubescent state where they begin to produce new eggs.

Women are born with all their eggs, which is why conceiving becomes harder with age, because the eggs grow old, become damaged and eventually run out entirely.

But scientists noticed that women who had undergone chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with a drug combination known as ABVD had up to 10 times the number of eggs as healthy women.

Far from damaging the chance of having a baby, the cancer drugs may actually have improved their fertility.

The researchers speculate that the shock of chemotherapy may trigger stem cells in the ovaries into producing new follicles, the hollow hair-like structures which each produce a single egg.

Lead researcher Professor Evelyn Telfer, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “We were astonished when we saw what had happened to the tissue. It looked like pre-pubescent tissue with a high density of follicles and clustering that you don’t normally see in an adult.

“We knew that ABVD does not have a sterilising effect like some cancer drugs can, but to find new eggs being made, in such huge numbers, that was very surprising to see.

“It looks like something is being activated probably in the germline or stem cells and we need to find out what that mechanism is. It could be that the harshness of the treatment triggers some kind of shock effect or perturbation which stimulates the stem cells into producing new eggs.

“I think it’s a pretty big deal. It is the first time that we have ever been able to see new follicles being formed within the ovary, and it may only be a small number of women, but it is significant that the same effect was seen in all of the women on ABVD. The outcome may be significant and far-reaching.”