The method, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from the eggs of healthy donors to create IVF embryos that are free of harmful mutations that their mothers carry and can be passed on to their children. , reports the Guardian.
Embryos combine sperm and an egg from biological parents with tiny battery-like structures called mitochondria from a donor egg, the scientists explained. As a result, the child, as usual, has DNA from the mother and father, as well as a small amount of genetic material – about 37 genes, from the donor. The process has led to the phrase “children of three parents”, even though more than 99.8% of an infant’s DNA comes from both mother and father.
The MDT study, also known as mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), was first conducted in the UK by doctors at Newcastle Fertility Centre. The work aimed to help women with mutated mitochondria have children without the risk of passing on genetic disorders. Mutations that damage mitochondria most often affect energy-consuming tissues: the brain, heart, muscle, and liver. They can get steadily worse as the sick child gets older, the publication notes.
Progress with MDT led the UK Parliament to change the law in 2015 to allow the procedure. Two years later, the Newcastle clinic became the first and only national center to be licensed to perform it, with the first cases approved in 2018. Approval is given on a case-by-case basis by the UK Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which has authorized at least 30 such procedures.
Doctors at a Newcastle clinic have not released details of the birth of children under the MDT scheme, fearing specific information could compromise patients’ privacy. But in response to a newspaper inquiry, the HFEA confirmed that a small number of children were born in Britain under the scheme. The regulator said the number of births was “less than five” and did not give an exact figure as it “could lead to the identification of a person to whom the HFEA is bound by confidentiality”. No other birth details were given.
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