Study: China gene mutations linked to higher mortality | Life

BEIJING, June 4 – The genetic mutation given to Chinese twins last year rendering them immune to the HIV virus can significantly reduce life expectancy, scientists said yesterday in a fresh warning against human gene-editing.

Chinese researcher He Jiankui last year provoked outrage among doctors by unveiling the results of an experiment in the field of pregnancy.

He used a gene – editing tool known as a mutant variant of a CCR5 gene – known as Delta32 – in the girls' chromosome at the embryo stage. They are now immune to the AIDS – causing HIV virus.

D32 mutation compared to a 20-per cent higher risk of early death compared to the global population.

Researchers from the University of Berkeley, California, investigates the health of 409,000 people of the ancestral age of the population, and how they are affected.

After correcting for the ages of those involved, they found those with the mutation were 21 percent more likely to die before the age of 76 than those who did not.

They found that D32 possessors were significantly more likely to be HIV-infected, notably influenza.

"The cost of resistance to HIV may be increased susceptibility to other, and perhaps more common, diseases," the study's authors wrote.

'We do not know enough'

The research, published in the journal Nature MedicineIt does not explain why, but the authors said there was a clear statistical trend that should be discouraged repeats of He's experiment.

"The introduction of new mutations in humans using Crispr technology …"

China in November it said that it was a serious violation of national law and medical ethics.

David Curtis, Honorary Professor at the University College of London's Genetics Institute, said the new study provided a clear look at the possible unintended consequences of gene-editing in humans.

"There are many other examples in which surgery inadvertently causes major unexpected problems elsewhere," said Curtis, who was not involved in the study.

"This is a warning that we should be extremely cautious about the introduction of therapies involving modifying the genetic code."

Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader at The Francis Crick Institute in London, added: "All this shows more than He Jiankui was foolish to choose CCR5 to mutate in his attempts at germline genome editing. We just do not know enough about the gene. "- AFP-Relaxnews