Twins with a modified gene in China could have an alteration of cognition, memory

February 23, 2019 – 16:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – New study by UCLA researchers has raised new concerns about controversy gene editing experience that was carried out in China last year, medical news reports.

The study suggests that the genetic modifications introduced to make two baby girls resistant to HIV could also have improved their cognition and memory.

In the study, He Jiankui (South Shenzhen University of Science and Technology) and his colleagues used the CRISPR gene editing tool to remove CCR5 from human embryos, some of which were subsequently used in IVF procedures. The experience has since been widely criticized for his irresponsibility and he is currently under investigation in China.

As reported in the Cell journal, Alcino Silva and his colleagues have now examined the role that CCR5 plays in neuronal recovery after stroke and traumatic brain injury.

CCR5 is the gene that codes for the receptor that HIV needs to enter human immune cells. The results of the new study prove that CCR5 is also a suppressor of memory and synaptic connections.

According to the authors, people without the CCR5 gene recover faster from strokes and those with at least one copy seem to go further in education, potentially involving a role in intelligence.