The first baby created by three genetic parents has been born in the UK.
To prevent genetic disease, doctors created a “three-parent baby” using a technique called mitochondrial donation therapy (MDT).
The procedure, designed to stop a mother from passing on to her child a gene faulty in her mitochondria – the tiny power plants in cells that provide energy – involved giving a woman IVF with the DNA of three people.
The child’s nuclear DNA is provided by the parents and defines key traits such as personality and eye color.
They also acquired a small amount of mitochondrial DNA provided by a “third parent.”
Newcastle Fertility Center is First license granted for controversial treatment In 2017, after members of Congress and their peers voted to allow it under the Human Fertilization and Embryo Act in 2015.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the regulator, said fewer than five births were recorded as a result of the mitochondrial transfer procedure.
Providing an accurate figure “could lead to the identification of persons to whom the HFEA owes a duty of confidentiality”, it said. Data is accurate as of April 20.
The Guardian first reported the birth of the MDT after a freedom of information request was filed with the HFEA. The newspaper said it learned the pandemic had prevented some donors from coming forward and affected other couples who hoped for treatment.
Newcastle Fertility Clinic is first to receive license to treat ‘third parent’ babies
The procedure at the Newcastle clinic works by transferring the genetic material that effectively encodes the baby’s identity into a donor egg from which its own nuclear DNA has been removed.
This produces an embryo that contains healthy mitochondria from the donor and nuclear DNA from the baby’s parents.
Mitochondria make up only 0.1 percent of a person’s DNA, which is always inherited from the mother.
When mitochondrial DNA goes wrong, the consequences can be catastrophic—leading to a range of potentially fatal diseases, including heart disease, liver failure, brain disease, blindness and muscular dystrophy.
There is no cure for this mitochondrial disease, which affects about one in six children worldwide.
The treatment aims to prevent the defective gene from being passed on to future generations, potentially eradicating the dreaded disease forever.
HFEA Chief Executive Peter Thompson said: “The mitochondrial donation treatment offers families with severe inherited mitochondrial disorders the possibility of having a healthy child.
“The UK is the first country in the world to allow mitochondrial donation therapy in a regulated environment.
“The treatment of mitochondrial donation is still in its early stages, and the HFEA will continue to review clinical and scientific developments.”
World’s first baby created from DNA of three parents is born in mexico In 2016, with the help of the New York team.
The mother had the gene for Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder that affects the developing nervous system.