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takyon writes:

A study by Newcastle University researchers has found that three-person in vitro fertilization is safe (does not adversely affect embryos) and can be routinely performed. Three-person IVF allows the transfer of donor mitochondria into an embryo in order to prevent mitochondrial disease:

Published today in the journal Nature, scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Disease at Newcastle University report the first in-depth analysis of human embryos created using a new technique designed to reduce the risk of mothers passing on mitochondrial disease to their children, which is debilitating and often life-limiting.

[...] Today researchers, in a study involving over 500 eggs from 64 donor women, publish results that indicate that the new procedure does not adversely affect human development and will greatly reduce the level of faulty mitochondria in the embryo. Their results suggest that the technique will lead to normal pregnancies whilst also reducing the risk of babies having mitochondrial disease. The results of this study will be considered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (HFEA) Expert Scientific Panel. The HFEA will ultimately decide whether to issue the first licence to a clinic. A licensed clinic would allow couples affected by mitochondrial disease to have the choice of whether to use pronuclear transfer to try and have healthy children.

Also at the BBC. You can fill out this form to donate eggs or sperm to the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life.

Towards clinical application of pronuclear transfer to prevent mitochondrial DNA disease (DOI: 10.1038/nature18303)

Previously: UK Approves Three-Person IVF Babies
U.S. Panel Gives Tentative Endorsement to Three-Person IVF

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A new mitochondrial donation technique called spindle nuclear transfer has been successfully used in order to prevent a child from inheriting a mitochondrial disorder:

It's not the first time scientists have created babies that have DNA from three people - that breakthrough began in the late 1990s - but it is an entirely new and significant method. [...] The US team, who travelled to Mexico to carry out the procedure because there are no laws there that prohibit it, used a method that takes all the vital DNA from the mother's egg plus healthy mitochondria from a donor egg to create a healthy new egg that can be fertilised with the father's sperm.

[...] Some have questioned whether we are only now hearing the success story while failed attempts could have gone unreported. Prof Alison Murdoch, part of the team at Newcastle University that has been at the forefront of three person IVF work in the UK, said: "The translation of mitochondrial donation to a clinical procedure is not a race but a goal to be achieved with caution to ensure both safety and reproducibility." Critics say the work is irresponsible. Dr David King from the pro-choice group Human Genetics Alert, said: "It is outrageous that they simply ignored the cautious approach of US regulators and went to Mexico, because they think they know better. Since when is a simplistic "to save lives is the ethical thing to do" a balanced medical ethics approach, especially when no lives were being saved?" Dr Zhang and his team say they will answer these questions when they presents[sic] their findings at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in October.

Also at The New York Times and NPR.

First live birth using human oocytes reconstituted by spindle nuclear transfer for mitochondrial DNA mutation causing Leigh syndrome (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.08.004) (DX)

As far as I can tell, what you see in the above Fertility and Sterility paper is all that has been released.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Troubling new findings have been discovered that could affect the lives of (misleadingly* branded) "three-parent" offspring born thanks to breakthrough mitochondrial replacement therapy.

The technique grabbed the world's attention when in September a baby was born bearing the DNA of three parents, a feat that overcame the otherwise fatal Leigh syndrome** genetic disorder carried by the child's mother.

It was heralded as a major step up from in vitro fertilisation. in the technique, the nucleus of an egg from the syndrome-affected mother is implanted into a female donor egg with healthy mitochondria which has had its nucleus removed. The resulting egg is fertilised with the father's sperm.

It has since been approved by the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority with the first treatments possible in 2018.

Now a paper (pdf) published in the journal Nature – and written by 30 researchers headed by Oregon Health and Science University Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov – has found mitochondrial replacement therapy in 15 per cent of cases may allow the fatal defects it amends to resurface, even introducing new defects.

[Ed. Note: The asterisk in the first line refers to a footnote in the source article; it is not a typo.]

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Ethicists are bothered by the circumstances surrounding the world's first use of pronuclear transfer to create a baby:

It was a first for the entire world: Using a controversial in vitro fertilization technique, doctors in Kiev, Ukraine, helped a previously infertile couple conceive and deliver a baby girl. Some critics say, for genetic reasons, the use of this IVF method should have been restricted to producing a baby boy. The baby was born on January 5, the result of an experimental technique known as "pronuclear transfer" and sometimes referred to as three-parent IVF. The 34-year-old Ukrainian mother suffered from "unexplained infertility," according to Dr. Valery Zukin, director of the Nadiya Clinic for Reproductive Medicine, where the controversial pronuclear transfer technique was performed. She did not have mitochondrial disease.

[...] The reason this experimental method is a cause for concern -- and was vigorously debated in the UK before approval -- is the genetic modifications produced in a girl baby could be passed onto her children, according to Lori P. Knowles, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alberta School of Public Health.

Boy babies carrying donor mitochondria cannot pass their modified genetics onto any future children they may have because once a sperm fuses with an egg to form an embryo, the masculine mitochondrion withers and dies leaving the resulting embryo with only mitochondrion from the mother's egg. "I do think it's highly significant that this is a girl because we know for sure that she will be passing on her mitochondrial DNA through her maternal line," said Knowles. If in the future this baby girl has genetic children, they will inherit her genetic modifications "and that's always been a really bright line," said Knowles -- a line not to be crossed until rigorous scientific testing proves it is safe.

The previous three-parent baby was conceived using spindle nuclear transfer, and couldn't pass on donor mitochondrial DNA (well, conventionally anyway) as a male. The Ukrainian procedure was used as a workaround for infertility rather than mitochondrial disease. The article also notes that Dr. Valery Zukin, director of the Nadiya Clinic for Reproductive Medicine where the procedure was performed, is also the vice president of the medical review board that approved the procedure.

Also at BBC and Smithsonian Magazine:

The mother in question had been unable to get pregnant for 15 years. Using the procedure as an IVF technique allows doctors to bypass cells or enzymes in the mother's egg that might prevent pregnancy or hinder cell division, explains Andy Coghlan at New Scientist .

Previously: Mitochondrial DNA Manipulation and Ethics
Approval for Three-Parent Embryo Trials
Fatal Genetic Conditions Could Return in Some 'Three-Parent' Babies

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Back in September, it was reported that spindle nuclear transfer was used to successfully transfer mitochondrial DNA into an egg in order to prevent a child from inheriting a mitochondrial disorder. The procedure was carried out in Mexico due to U.S. laws against it. Now, the FDA has warned the doctor behind this milestone to stop using the achievement in marketing materials for his fertility clinic:

The US Food and Drug Administration has told a New York fertility doctor to stop marketing a controversial three-parent fertility treatment, which makes it possible for babies to be made from two women and a man.

The health watchdog published a letter to Dr. John Zhang, founder of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City, whose "spindle nuclear transfer" technique was used to conceive a boy born in Mexico in April 2016.

Zhang detailed the procedure in the journal Fertility and Sterility [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.08.004] [DX] last year and is now marketing the technique, but the letter reminds Zhang the FDA has not authorized his use of the procedure in humans.

Original Submission