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November 26, 2018 – 19:44
A Chinese claims to have altered several embryos during fertility treatments, of which twins are already born. But there is caution in the scientific community.
A Chinese researcher claims to have helped create the first genetically modified babies, twins born this month, whose DNA would be altered by a powerful new tool, able to rewrite the original life project.
If that were true, it would be a big step forward for science with profound ethical implications.
An American scientist said he participated in genetic editing in China, banned in the United States because DNA changes can be pbaded on to future generations and other genes may be damaged.
Many scientists believe that it is too risky to try, and some have denounced the fact that the Chinese report amounts to an experiment on human beings.
Resisting future HIV infection
Researcher He Jiankui of Shenzhen City said he had modified embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments and had a pregnancy to date. He stated that his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to give a few people a natural characteristic: the ability to withstand a future infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
He noted that the parents concerned refused to be identified or interviewed and that it will not reveal where they live nor where the work was done.
Not yet confirmed by science
Nobody has confirmed his claim independently, nor published in a journal where he would be examined by other experts. He announced Monday his work in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on genetic publishing, which will begin Tuesday, and previously during exclusive talks with The Associated Press.
"I feel a strong responsibility not only to do something for the first time, but also to give the example," he told the AP. "Society will decide what to do next" to authorize or prohibit such scientific advances.
More than 120 Chinese scientists have condemned the announcement of his colleague He Jiankui concerning the birth of two genetically modified babies in order to avoid contracting HIV, in an open letter in which they declared that he was not pregnant. Experiencing man is a "madness" and involves serious potential consequences.
The text was signed by scientists from various institutions, including Tsinghua, Beijing and Fudan universities and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"These irreversible transformations of human genetic material, highly uncertain in science will inevitably mingle with the human genetic group," says the letter published by the DPA.
Researchers say that "it is possible that born babies are healthy for a while, but the risks and potential harm to the human group (…) they are incalculable."
They also lamented that the experiment carries a "blow to the world reputation of the science of chi na" and asked the inspection authorities to act as soon as possible and to carry out an investigation into the case.
"Pandora's box has been opened and we may have the option to close it before the damage is irreparable," they warned.
However, a famous geneticist, George Church of Harvard University, defended the attempt at HIV gene editing, which he defined as "a growing and significant threat to public health. ".
"I think it's justifiable," said Church about this goal.
In recent years, scientists have discovered a relatively simple way of modifying genes, the strands of DNA that govern the body. The tool, named CRISPR-cas9, allows DNA operations to provide a necessary gene or disable the one that causes problems.
Jennifer Doudna
One of the discoverers of the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic editing technique, the American Jennifer Doudna, also criticized He's announcement.
"If it is verified, this work is a break from the precautions and the transparent approach to the application of the global scientific community of CRISPR-Cas9," said Doudna, Professor of Chemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of California. at Berkeley.
Doudna noted that his research had not yet been published or peer reviewed by the scientific community.
The researcher participates in the Hong Kong Summit on Human Genomics, which he also plans to attend.
If a scientific badysis confirms this work, it will confirm "the urgent need to limit the use of genetic modification on human embryos to scenarios in which there is a clear unmet medical need and in which another therapeutic approach is not viable ". ,
The CRISPR-Cas9 mechanism has been known for nearly three decades. In 2003, the Spanish microbiologist Francisco Martínez Mojica discovered that it was the one that microorganisms use to defend themselves, cutting the genetic material of viruses and incorporating its own DNA.
The discovery of Mojica was at the base of Doudna and the French researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier, several years later, to artificially reproduce the system and propose in 2012 to use it to precisely modify the genome, including the one of human beings.
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