Second pregnant woman of a gene edited baby in China

January 28, 2019

A second pregnancy established with a genetically modified embryo is underway, confirmed the Chinese authorities.

The announcement comes shortly after the Ministry of Health of Guangdong Province released a damning report on Chinese scientist He Jiankui's research. The ministry said Dr. He had violated national regulations banning the use of genome editing for reproductive purposes in humans.

"This behavior seriously undermines the integrity and integrity of scientific research, constitutes a serious violation of the national regulations in force and creates a pernicious influence both at home and abroad", said the report to the Chinese Xinhua official news agency.

Dr. He, who at the time was an badociate professor at the South African University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, announced in November that he and his team had published the genome human embryos to make them resistant. to HIV. The modified embryos were implanted in a female, which resulted in the birth of binoculars (see BioNews 977).

The Chinese government ordered Dr. He's work stoppage shortly thereafter. A second potential pregnancy was mentioned but not verified at the time.

The investigation that followed revealed that Dr. He had falsified ethical reference texts and had deliberately refrained from supervising his work "in search of personal glory and gain ", according to Xinhua. SUSTech has since announced his dismissal, claiming that his work "seriously violated the university ethics".

The controversial study on genome editing has been the subject of much criticism both in China and internationally, highlighting the urgent need for international regulation of genome editing (see BioNews 978).

& # 39;[The] the news is the expected consequence of any clinical research that would be conducted outside the legal framework to establish ethical authorizations, "said Dr. Lydia Teboul, head of molecular and cellular biology at the Mary Lyon Center, MRC Harwell. "In the future, it is critical that these events do not cause a total rejection of genome editing technology as a basis for clinical tools."

Dr. Yalda Jamshidi, Reader in Genomic Medicine at St George's University in London, added: "The report will give hope that appropriate legal and punitive actions will be presented to rebadure the public and scientists about the fact as the editing of the genome, to be allowed only if they meet a real medical need and under the appropriate ethical and regulatory control. & # 39;