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Babies born for the first time in the UK with the DNA of three people

2023-05-10T21:37:40.149Z

Highlights: Through this technique, doctors ensured that newborns did not inherit genetic diseases. The world's first baby fertilized with this technique was born in the United States in 2016. Britain in 2015 became the first country to pass legislation regulating mechanisms to help prevent women with defective mitochondria from passing defects to their babies. About one in 200 children in Britain is born with a mitochondrial disorder. To date, 32 patients have been authorized to receive such treatment. American doctors were the first to announce the birth of the mitochondria donation treatment was performed in Mexico.


Through this technique, doctors ensured that newborns did not inherit genetic diseases. The world's first baby fertilized with this technique was born in the United States in 2016.


By Maria Cheng - The Associated Press

Britain's fertility regulator on Wednesday confirmed the birth of Britain's first babies using an experimental technique that combines DNA from three people in an effort to prevent children from inheriting rare genetic diseases.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority did not provide the exact number of babies born through this method to protect the identity of the families, but said there are fewer than five.

Britain in 2015 became the first country to pass legislation regulating mechanisms to help prevent women with defective mitochondria – the source of energy in a cell – from passing defects to their babies. The world's first baby fertilized with this technique was born in the United States in 2016.

A doctor completes an artificial insemination process. Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images

Genetic defects can lead to diseases such as muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and intellectual disability. About one in 200 children in Britain is born with a mitochondrial disorder. To date, 32 patients have been authorized to receive such treatment.

In the case of a woman with defective mitochondria, scientists extract genetic material from her egg or embryo, which is then transferred to an egg or embryo from a donor who still has healthy mitochondria but whose rest of her key DNA has been removed.

[She was kidnapped in Texas as a baby. A home DNA test reunited her with her family 51 years later.]

The fertilized embryo is then transferred to the mother's uterus. The genetic material of the donated egg makes up less than 1% of the child created with this technique.

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"Mitochondrial donation treatment offers families with serious inherited mitochondrial diseases the chance to have a healthy child," Britain's fertility regulator said in a statement Wednesday. The entity said that it is still "early", but hopes that the scientists at the University of Newcastle who have carried out this process will publish the details of the treatment in the short term.

Britain requires that every woman undergoing treatment receives approval from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. According to this organization, families should not have other options to avoid the transmission of genetic diseases.

Many critics oppose artificial breeding techniques, arguing that there are other ways to avoid passing diseases to children, such as egg donation or screening, and that experimental methods have not yet proven safe.

Others warn that altering the genetic code in this way could become an unstable terrain that ends up leading to designer babies for parents who not only want to avoid hereditary diseases, but have children who are taller, stronger, smarter or more beautiful.

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Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell expert at the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre in London, says it will be essential to monitor the future development of babies.

[This couple achieved their dream of fathering a baby but miscarried fearing that the girl would turn out to be the daughter of unknown parents]

"It will be interesting to know how well the (mitochondrial donation) technique worked on a practical level, whether the babies are free of mitochondrial diseases and whether there is any risk that they will develop problems later on," he said in a statement.

European scientists published research earlier this year showing that, in some cases, the small number of abnormal mitochondria that are inevitably passed from the mother's egg to the donor's can reproduce when the baby is in the womb, potentially leading to a genetic disease.

Lovell-Badge says the reasons for such problems are not yet understood and that researchers will need to develop methods to reduce risk.

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Previous research evaluating another technique for creating babies from three people, including an egg donor, found that years later the children did well in adolescence, with no signs of unusual health problems and good grades in school.

American doctors were the first to announce the birth of the world's first baby using the mitochondria donation technique, after the treatment was performed in Mexico.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-05-10

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