New IVF technique resulted in the birth of a baby with 3-parent DNA
The first baby in the world to have DNA from three parents was born after a New York fertility specialist successfully carried out the new “three-parent” in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique.
John Zhang, medical director of New Hope Fertility Center in New York, spearheaded the technique roughly five months ago with a Jordanian couple at a clinic in Mexico.
The procedure, which Zhang calls a “revolutionary approach in human reproduction”, is designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases passed down maternally, affecting around one in 6,500 children worldwide.
However, due to perceived risks to the mother and child, it is currently not allowed by the US government in the country. In addition, some stem-cell scientists say Mexico also lacks the regulatory oversight and clinical expertise to carry the procedure out safely.
The treatment uses the genetic (DNA) material from the parents and an egg donor to create an embryo.
“This new technology, the first time in human history, a healthy live person that is created by two eggs recombined it together with one sperm,” Zhang said during a fertility conference in New York. “This not even has happened in nature.”
According to Zhang, the baby’s mother carries the gene for Leigh syndrome, which is a fatal and inherited disorder caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA that affect the central nervous system. Symptoms of Leigh syndrome begin within a year of the child’s birth and eventually lead to death within a span of several years.
Zhang, who is scheduled to present his findings at a meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, said the questions were all a part of the scientific progress he thinks is being made.
“Eighty percent of the time there is criticism, and 20 percent of the time maybe in favor. I think what happened is very healthy and very encouraging,” he said.
Zhang said he relished seeing families who have suffered from the death of a child finally able to have a healthy child. “I just feel that I am bringing a gift. I really think it’s just a wonderful thing.”
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