Latest news with #Doug Turnbull
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Eight healthy babies born in UK after IVF using DNA from three people
Doctors in the UK have announced the birth of eight healthy babies after performing a groundbreaking procedure that creates IVF embryos with DNA from three people to prevent the children from inheriting incurable genetic disorders. The mothers were all high risk for passing on life-threatening diseases to their babies due to mutations in their mitochondria, the tiny structures that sit inside cells and provide the power they need to function. News of the births and the children's health has been long-anticipated by doctors around the world after the UK changed the law to allow the procedure in 2015. The fertility regulator granted the first licence in 2017 to a fertility clinic at Newcastle University where doctors pioneered the technique. The four boys and four girls, including one set of identical twins, were born to seven women and have no signs of the mitochondrial diseases they were at risk of inheriting. One further pregnancy is ongoing. READ MORE Prof Doug Turnbull, who was part of the team that spent more than two decades developing the procedure, said the healthy births were reassuring for researchers and the families affected. 'You are inevitably thinking it's great for the patients and that is a relief,' he said. Prof Mary Herbert, another senior member of the team, said to have eight healthy babies from the procedure was 'rewarding for all of us'. The vast majority of a human's 20,000 genes are curled up in the nucleus of nearly every cell in the body. But the fluid surrounding the nucleus contains hundreds to thousands of mitochondria that carry their own set of 37 genes. Mutations in these genes can impair or completely disable mitochondria with catastrophic effects. People inherit all their mitochondria from their biological mother. Mutations in the tiny battery-like structures can affect all the children a woman has. The first symptoms of mitochondrial disease tend to appear in early childhood as energy-hungry organs such as the brain, heart and muscles start to fail. Many affected children have developmental delays, require wheelchairs and die young. About one in 5,000 newborns are affected. Mitochondrial donation treatment, or MDT, aims to prevent children from inheriting mutated mitochondria. The procedure involves fertilising the mother's egg with the father's sperm and then transferring the genetic material from the nucleus into a fertilised healthy donor egg that has had its own nucleus removed. This creates a fertilised egg with a full set of chromosomes from the parents, but healthy mitochondria from the donor. The egg is then implanted into the womb to establish a pregnancy. The first eight babies born to the procedure are described in two papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. All eight were healthy at birth. One child developed a urinary infection that was treated, and another developed muscle jerks that resolved on their own. A third child developed high blood fat and a disturbance in their heart rhythm, which was also treated. The condition is thought to be related to a medical issue the mother had in pregnancy. Genetic tests showed that the babies had no or low levels of mutant mitochondria, with some carried over from the mother during the procedure. While the levels are considered too low to cause disease, it suggests the procedure could still be improved. Some women who carry the genetic disorders produce eggs with varying levels of faulty mitochondria. For them, a technique called pre-implantation genetic testing can be used to select eggs for IVF that have a very low chance of passing on a disease. Other women do not have this choice because all their eggs have high levels of mutations. — the Guardian
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
First ‘three-parent' babies found healthy in scientific breakthrough
Eight healthy babies with the DNA of three people have been born in Britain in a groundbreaking first hailed as a 'scientific tour-de-force.' Dubbed 'three parent babies', the infants carry the genetic material of a 'second mother' to repair damage in their mitochondrial DNA, which powers the cells. British scientists have spent decades perfecting the technique, which involves transplanting nuclear DNA – containing all the characteristics of a person – into a donor egg with healthy mitochondria. Scientists hope the breakthrough can help women whose children would be at risk of mitochondrial disease. Every year around one in 5,000 children are born with mitochondrial mutations in Britain, while 12,000 are living with a mitochondrial disorder. These can lead to serious problems such as heart and liver failure, blindness, deafness, diabetes, respiratory problems and even death. After following the infants for up to two years, scientists announced on Wednesday that the technique works and all the babies are healthy. Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, Emeritus Professor of Neurology, at Newcastle University, who led the team said: 'I think everybody knows I'm a natural pessimist, so it's a relief. 'Mitochondrial disease can have a devastating impact on families. Today's news offers fresh hope to many more women at risk of passing on this condition who now have the chance to have children growing up without this terrible disease.' The disease is passed down solely from the mother, and there is no cure, but in the late 1990s, scientists began to question whether the defective mitochondria could be replaced with healthy donor DNA. While nuclear DNA is the blueprint for the entire cell, comprising around 3.3 billion base pairs, mitochondrial DNA only codes for energy production and is built from around 16,000 base pairs. Nevertheless, the idea proved controversial, with both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales questioning whether the technique was safe or ethical. Experts from the Zoological Society of London warned that in 50 per cent of animal studies, faulty mitochondrial DNA had been transferred over during the procedure, while the US Food and Drug Administration deemed the process unsafe. In spite of the objections, Parliament approved new legislation to allow the procedure in 2015, and the first licence was granted in 2017 to Newcastle Fertility Centre, which pioneered the technique. The procedure involves transplanting the nuclear DNA - which contains all the genes that make up individual characteristics –from a fertilised egg to an egg donated by an unaffected woman which has had its nuclear DNA removed. The resulting embryo inherits its parents' nuclear DNA, but the mitochondrial DNA is inherited predominantly from the donated egg. Early attempts failed and it was not until 2023 that Freedom of Information requests showed the first baby had been born in Newcastle by these methods. At the time, researchers were reluctant to discuss the case, leading to fears the child had not survived. Now, two years on, scientists say the infant is growing well and has passed all developmental milestones. Seven other children have also been born through the process without any major complications, and all eight babies show no signs of having mitochondrial DNA disease. Prof Bobby McFarlane, Professor of Paediatric Mitochondrial Medicine at Newcastle University said: 'All the children are well and they are continuing to meet their developmental milestones. 'While longer term follow-up of children born following mitochondrial donation is of paramount importance, these early results are very encouraging. 'Seeing the joy and relief these children have brought to their parents is such a privilege.' Life and possibility The parents did not want to be named but said they were 'overwhelmed with gratitude', and thankful to the scientists who allowed them to conceive healthy children. One mother of a baby girl born following mitochondrial donation said: ' After years of uncertainty this treatment gave us hope –and then it gave us our baby. 'We look at them now, full of life and possibility, and we're overwhelmed with gratitude. Science gave us a chance.' The mother of a baby boy added: 'This breakthrough has lifted the heavy cloud of fear that once loomed over us. Our little family is complete.' Scientists hope the breakthrough can help around 150 women a year. Unlike with egg or sperm donors, children are not entitled to know the details of their mitochondrial donor unless they have agreed to share the information. However in some cases friends or family members have donated their DNA. Commenting on the research Dusko Ilic, Professor of Stem Cell Science, King's College London, said the healthy births were 'a remarkable accomplishment'. Dr Andy Greenfield, Honorary Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford, added: 'It is a triumph of scientific innovation in the IVF clinic – a world-first that shows that the UK is an excellent environment in which to push boundaries in IVF. A baby was born in 2016 in Mexico using a similar technique developed by British researchers, but it is not known if the child survived.
