First baby born with DNA from three people in England
First Three-Person Baby Born in UK Thanks to Breakthrough IVF Technology
A breakthrough in IVF technology has led to the first baby in the UK carrying the DNA of three individuals. The baby’s DNA is mostly from the parents, with around 0.1% being from a donor. Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy was developed to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases that could potentially result in infant death. Mitochondrial disorders can cause irreversible damage to the brain, muscles, heart, and eyes because the body is not receiving enough energy.
The use of mitochondria from a healthy donor is what makes Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy so successful. The DNA from the donor enables the mitochondria to keep functioning, but it does not affect other aspects of the baby, such as appearance, and the donor is not considered the “third parent.”
While Newcastle University developed the technique, the first birth using it took place in the USA in 2016 by a Jordanian couple. Though unable to confirm the number of births, the regulatory body, the Management of Human Reproduction and Embryology (HFEA), recently announced that “fewer than five” babies in the UK have been born using the technique.
Although successful so far, it’s unknown if this technique will cause any future health problems for babies. Researcher Robin Lovell-Badge has commented, “we need to see how mitochondrial replacement therapy works out in practice, whether babies have mitochondria defect and whether these babies are at risk of having problems later in life.”
If the technique continues to prove successful, it could be used in roughly 150 births per year in England alone. For families who’ve already lost children to mitochondrial diseases, this new technology represents a potentially life-saving way to expand their families.
