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A Chinese researcher claims that he helped create the first genetically modified baby in the world – binoculars born this month of which he modified DNA, according to a powerful new tool, capable of rewrite the very model of life.
would be a profound leap of science and ethics.
An American scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this type of genetic modification is banned in the United States because DNA changes can be pbaded on to future generations and could harm the DNA of the United States. 39, other genes. Many scientists think that it is too dangerous to try, and some have described the Chinese report of human experimentation
. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he has modified embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with a pregnancy up to now. He stated that his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to confer a trait that characterizes few people naturally – an ability to withstand possible eventual HIV infection , the AIDS virus
. to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done.
There is no independent confirmation of He's claim, and it was not published in a newspaper, where it would be carefully examined. experts. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong at one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing that is expected to begin Tuesday and earlier in exclusive talks with the Associated Press.
"I feel like a strong responsibility that just to make a first, but also to make an example," he told the AP.
"The society will decide what to do next" in terms of permission or prohibition of such a science. Some scientists were stunned to learn this statement and strongly condemned it.
It is "unacceptable … an experiment on human beings that is neither ethically nor ethically defensible," said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, expert in gene editing at the University of Pennsylvania. editor-in-chief of a journal on genetics.
"It's way too early," said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California. "We are talking about a user's manual. It's a big problem. However, a famous geneticist, George Church of Harvard University, defended any attempt to modify the gene for HIV, which he described as "a major and growing threat to public health." think it's justifiable, "said Church about this goal.
In recent years, scientists have discovered a relatively easy way to edit genes, the DNA strands that govern the body. The tool, called CRISPR-cas9, allows you to operate on the DNA to provide a necessary gene or inactivate it that causes problems.
It has recently been tried in adults to treat deadly diseases, and the changes only affect that person. . The edition of spermatozoa, oocytes or embryos is different – the changes can be inherited. In the United States, this is not allowed except for laboratory research. China prohibits human cloning, but not specifically genetic engineering.
He Jiankui, who calls himself "JK," studied at Rice and Stanford Universities in the United States before returning to his homeland to open a laboratory at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China. in Shenzhen, where he also has two genetics companies
The American scientist who worked with him on this project after his return to China was the physics and bioengineering professor Michael Deem, who was his adviser at Rice to Houston.
Deem
The Chinese researcher said he practiced editing mice, monkeys and human embryos in the laboratory for several years. for patents on his methods.
He says he chose to try to edit the gene for embryos for HIV because these infections are a serious problem in China. He sought to disable a gene called CCR5 that forms a protein gateway allowing HIV, the virus at the origin of AIDS, to enter a cell.
All men in the project were HIV-positive and not all women, but the gene editing was not intended to prevent a small risk of transmission, he said.
Fathers' clbadic HIV drugs have been deeply suppressed and there are simple ways to prevent them from infecting their offspring without gene alteration. [19659002] Instead, the call was to offer couples with HIV a chance to have a child who could be protected from a similar fate.
He recruited couples through an AIDS advocacy group, Baihualin, based in Beijing.
His leader, known as "Bai Hua", told AP that it was not uncommon for people living with HIV to lose their jobs or have difficulty to get medical attention if their infections were revealed.
Here is how he described the work:
The gene editing took place during IV F, or laboratory dish fertilization. First, sperm has been "washed" to separate it from sperm, the fluid where HIV can hide. A single sperm was placed in a single egg to create an embryo. Then the gene editing tool was added
When the embryos were 3 to 5 days old, some cells were removed and checked for editing. Couples can choose to use published or unedited embryos for their pregnancy attempts. In total, 16 out of 22 embryos were published and 11 embryos were used in six implant attempts before the twin's pregnancy, he added.
Tests suggest that one twin was altered at a time and both copies were altered. only one has been modified without evidence of damage to other genes, he said. Individuals with a copy of the gene can still contract HIV, although very limited research suggests that their health may degrade more slowly once it has occurred. the editing worked or to exclude any prejudice.
They also found evidence that the montage was incomplete and that at least one twin appeared to be a patchwork of cells with various changes.
"It's almost like not changing at all" if only some of some cells were impaired, because HIV infection could still occur, Church said.
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