REUTERS – Eight children in the U.K. have been spared from devastating genetic diseases thanks to a new three-person in vitro fertilization technique, scientists from Newcastle University reported on Wednesday.
The technique, which is banned in the United States, transfers pieces from inside the mother’s fertilized egg – its nucleus, plus the nucleus of the father’s sperm – into a healthy egg provided by an anonymous donor.
The procedure prevents the transfer of mutated genes from inside the mother’s mitochondria – the cells’ energy factories – that could cause incurable and potentially fatal disorders.
Mutations in mitochondrial DNA can affect multiple organs, particularly those that require high energy, such as the brain, liver, heart, muscles and kidneys.
One of the eight children is now 2 years old, two are between ages 1 and 2, and five are infants. All were healthy at birth, with blood tests showing no or low levels of mitochondrial gene mutations, the scientists reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. All have made normal developmental progress, they said.
“The abortion culture hangs over the IVF laboratory. We must deny that what is technologically possible is therefore morally acceptable.” – Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.
The results “are the culmination of decades of work,” not just on the scientific/technical challenges but also in ethical inquiry, public and patient engagement, law-making, drafting and execution of regulations, and establishing a system for monitoring and caring for the mothers and infants, reproductive medicine specialist Dr. Andy Greenfield of the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the research, said in a statement.
The researchers’ “treasure trove of data” is likely to be the starting point of new avenues of investigation, Greenfield said.
Often during IVF screening procedures, doctors can identify some low-risk eggs with very few mitochondrial gene mutations that are suitable for implantation.
But sometimes all of the eggs’ mitochondrial DNA carries mutations. In those cases, using the new technique, the UK doctors first fertilize the mother’s egg with the father’s sperm …
