Scientists say Chinese babies modified by a gene could be smarter by accident



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The brains of the first baby in the world to have been genetically modified may have had the brains involuntarily altered – and perhaps improved cognitively – as a result of the controversial treatment undertaken by a team of Chinese scientists.

Dr. He Jiankui and his team would have removed a gene from a number of human embryos before implanting them in their mothers, an initiative hailed with horror by the global scientific community. The only successful birth to date is the case of the twin girls Nana and Lulu.

The now disgraced scientist claimed to have removed a gene called CCR5 from their embroyos in order to make the twins resistant to HIV infection.


But another twist of the saga emerged after a new document showed that the impact of CCR5 suppression far outweighs the protection against dangerous viruses: people who naturally lack them seem to be recovering more quickly strokes and even go further to school. .

This followed previous experiments that found removing the gene significantly improved the memory of mice.

Dr Alcino Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped identify this role for CCR5 said the work undertaken by Dr Jiankui likely did change the girls’ brains.

“The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins,” he told the Review of MIT technology.

The connection immediately raised concerns that the gene was targeted due to its known links with intelligence, which Dr Silva said was his immediate response when he heard the news.

“I suddenly realized – oh, holy s***, they are really serious about this bulls***… My reaction was visceral repulsion and sadness.”

However, there is no evidence that this was Dr Jiankui's goal and at a press conference organised after the initial news broke, he said he was aware of the work but was “against using genome editing for enhancement”.

Dr Silva noted that while there may well have been changes to the girls' brains, changes to their intelligence would be impossible to predict.

“That is why it should not be done”, he said, noting that people are “not ready” for attempts to genetically alter the IQ of the population.

Some scientists however hope that the new research could inform work on drugs to treat strokes and memory problems.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, who organised the meeting at which the scandal first emerged, told L & # 39; Independent the new findings were “very interesting” but should be approached with caution in the context of the gene edited twins.


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He suggested that the CCR5 changes made in the human embryos differed slightly to the ones performed in previous experiments, adding that the information that has been released shows a significant number of their cells will not contain the mutation at all.

Any changes to the brains of the two girls may therefore never become apparent, Mr Lovell-Badge said.

“I hope that Nana and Lulu and eventually any children they have, will be left alone,

"They are just normal little girls, who happen to have unusual mutations in CCR5 in some of their cells. If these had arisen by chance, we would probably never have known and would not care.”


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