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The controversial genetic mutation used to fight HIV infection in twins born last year could ultimately shorten their lifespan.
A study from the University of California at Berkeley suggests that genetically modified newborns are at risk of a 21% increase in their mortality later in life.
Chinese scientist He Jiankui (HEH JEE'an-Qway) made headlines last year when his lab would have used CRISPR technology to modify the DNA of sisters Lulu and Nana *, born in November Grace and Mark.
Grace started her pregnancy by in vitro fertilization (IVF) – with a twist: after inseminating her eggs, an embryologist sent "a little protein", as well as instructions for gene surgery to disable the gene CCR5, to through which human immunodeficiency the virus enters.
UC Berkeley's analysis of more than 400,000 genomic records from the UK Biobank revealed that people with two mutated copies of CRC5 had a "significantly higher" death rate between 41 and 78 years than those who had a copy or not.
"Beyond the many ethical issues related to CRISPR babies, the fact is that now, with current knowledge, it is still very dangerous to try to introduce mutations without knowing the full effect of what these mutations are doing. According to UC Berkeley. Professor Rasmus Nielsen.
"In this case, it's probably not a mutation that most people would like to have," he said in a statement. "You are actually, on average, less well off."
This is bad news for the twins, one of whom would have had a copy of the modified gene, while the other would have published both copies, a so-called homozygous mutation.
Since the birth of the first test tube, Louise Brown, in 1978, so much has been said about the technology of assisted procreation.
Qualified by some of "Frankenstein of China", he has revised embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments. Until now, only one pregnancy has been successfully confirmed, although there have been rumors of one second.
The news set fire to the scientific community; a crowd of angry researchers carried pitchforks and torches, calling his conduct immoral.
The scientist – apparently the MIA since his appearance at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Modification in early December – as well as other concerned staff and organizations, would face undisclosed punishment for their actions.
"I think there are a lot of things unknown at the current stage about gene functions," said the postdoctoral fellow and co-author of the Xinzhu "April" Wei study. "CRISPR technology is far too dangerous to use for germline editing."
A full report was published this week in the journal Nature Medicine.
* The names of the twins and their parents have been modified by the laboratory for confidentiality reasons.
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