London. On Wednesday, Wednesday, the UK used an innovative IVF technique that combines three people to protect the baby from a rare genetic disease, a healthy eight -infant group without a serious illness, said researchers said.
Four girls and four boys, including one set of twins, were born healthy after researchers used treatment to prevent mothers with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA to their children, a statement on Wednesday in a statement at Northern England by Northern England.
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The authors say that this is the first study of the entire baby cohort and leads the way for further health results in their health results, as well as improved medical methods for that particular treatment-what is awarded to the United Kingdom in each case.
Mitochondria is usually known as a “cell power plant” and creates the energy needed for the main parts of the body. However, small mitochondrial DNA mutations can affect tissues with high energy requirements such as heart, muscles and brain, causing a devastating disease and in some cases death.
Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother and, while men can be affected, they do not transmit the disease, the researchers said. About 1 in 5,000 babies are born every year with mutations that can cause disease, researchers said.
The scientists now have described in detail how IVF’s technique, called pronuclear transmission, was used to combine three people’s DNA to reduce the risk of generations of mitochondrial disease, accompanied by research published in the New England Medicine magazine of Medicine.
This technique consumes 99.9 percent. Male and female DNA, another 0.1 percent from the second woman donor egg. It works by transplanting the nuclear genome of the mother’s egg containing a disease that contains the genes necessary for individual characteristics such as hair color and height, to an egg donated by an unaffected woman who has been removed by nuclear genome, said researchers.
The resulting embryo inherits the nuclear DNA of its two parents, but the mitochondrial DNA is derived from a donated egg, the researchers said. Treatment was offered to certain women who have a very high risk of transmitting serious mitochondrial disease, according to the UK rules, which assess each procedure on a case -by -case basis.
Eight babies – with age from newborn to more than 2 years – were evaluated as healthy, to fulfill the stages of development and report the level of mutations that cause mitochondrial disease, which was not found or would probably not cause the disease, according to a statement from the University of Newcastle. Three of the infants had the level of mitochondrial DNA mutations up to 20 percent, which is still less than 80 percent of the clinical disease, he added.
Doug Turnbull, a neurologist at the University of Newcastle, who wrote a study together said it was the first to document the treatment of children’s cohort. He said it was the result of a particularly cautious attitude of scientists and regulators, which has been more than two decades.
“People used very similar methods, but no one used this technique,” he said in a phone interview on Thursday. “This is just very important when you are doing new techniques to be careful and make sure … it’s as safe and efficient as possible.”
The procedure is also a concern for some, including religious groups, its ethics and fear that it can open the door to further modify the genetic modification.
Peter Thompson, Executive Director of the Human Fertilization and Embryological Service, which regulates the process in the UK, said that only people with “very high risk” of serious mitochondrial disease may be subject to treatment and that each application is assessed separately. From July 1 The UK authorities have confirmed 35 patients to continue treatment as it for the first time licensed in 2017.
“These solid but flexible regulatory processes allow safe use of technique for the purposes for which the parliament agreed in 2015,” Thompson’s report said in response to Wednesday’s news.
Scientists have cautiously accepted conclusions, emphasizing the importance of long -term observation and increasing whether the procedure offers advantages compared to the Embryo Mestalment for Genetic Diseases. Others raised the cost problem in a long -term project supported by the British National Health Service and the Medical Charity Organization Wellcome Trust, among other groups.
Mary Herbert, who is a professor of reproductive biology at Newcastle University and main author of the research document, said that “conclusions provide the basis for optimism,” but additional research is needed to “fill the gap” between mitochondrial disease Reduction and prevention.
Turnbull said the team also wants to improve medical methods and monitor children as long as possible to follow their health results. He said researchers offered health assessments for five years, but “it would be nice to be able to follow them much longer.”
Joanna Pullton, a professor of genetics of mitochondrial genetics at the University of Oxford, who is not involved in the study, said “time will show” whether treatment leads to “dramatic clinical progress”.
Births are due to the wider genome sequence and IVF start -up companies that have caused broader debate on the ethics and science of the Embryo Selection and Genetic Pre -Election.
In the United States, those who experience IVFs usually check rare genetic disorders caused by a single gene mutation such as cystic fibrosis, or chromosome abnormalities such as Down syndrome. However, US regulations are not allowed to use donor mitochondria. In the UK 2015 First of all, the establishment of a three -person DNA for babies was created in 2015. He was congratulated for his ability to prevent serious illness.
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