‘Three-parent babies’ could be a reality by the end of 2017

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“Three-parent babies” could be a reality by the end of next year following successful preclinical analysis, scientists have announced. The controversial procedure will now be referred to regulators to consider whether it can be licensed for use on women in the UK.

Mitochondrial replacement therapy replaces a small amount of a mother’s faulty DNA in her egg with healthy DNA from another woman. More commonly known as “three-parent” babies, the procedure means that babies inherit genes from a father and two mothers.

By removing the faulty DNA, scientists are able to reduce the chance of babies having mitochondrial diseases which are passed through the maternal line spreading from mother to child. They are rare but serious conditions which tend to emerge in childhood and can sometimes prove fatal before adulthood.

Previous studies have shown the process is technically feasible in abnormally fertilised human eggs, yet they have had limited capacity for onward development.

However, a new study reveals a new technique called “early pronuclear transfer” does not negatively affect onward development and will greatly reduce the level of faulty mitochondria in embryos. The study, which involved more than 500 eggs from 64 donor women, is published  in Nature journal.

Study lead author Professor Mary Herbert, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, said: “Having overcome significant technical and biological challenges, we are optimistic that the technique we have developed will offer affected women the possibility of reducing the risk of transmitting mitochondrial DNA disease to their children.”

@Agency report.



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