First baby with DNA from three people born in the UK, fertility regulator says
It's a scientific first that's been years in the making - a baby with DNA from three people. ITV News' Sam Holder explains how the pioneering therapy works
The first baby with DNA from three people has been born in the UK after a special IVF procedure, the fertility regulator said.
Most of the child's DNA comes from two parents and around 0.1% from a third, a female donor.
The technique has been introduced in the UK to prevent babies being born with devastating mitochondrial diseases as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) confirmed "less than five" have been born through the process as of April 20 this year.
No further details on the children were released after a freedom of information request by The Guardian.
Women can pass on defective genes in the mitochondria – tiny rod-like power plants in cells which supply energy – and offspring can inherit very serious or even fatal illnesses.
Some families have lost several children to inherited mitochondrial diseases and mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), a modified form of IVF, is seen as their only chance of having a healthy child.
The technique involves removing some of the mother’s DNA from an egg, and leaving the disease-causing DNA behind.
The healthy DNA is then slipped into a donor’s egg, which is fertilised and as a result, the baby inherits DNA from both parents and the egg donor.
The child will have nuclear DNA from its mother and father which define key characteristics such as personality and eye colour.
The contribution from the second woman is a very tiny amount, one that only affects the mitochondria, and does not affect other traits in the child such as appearance.
Britain became the first country in the world to formally allow mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) when the HFEA gave a cautious green light to the procedure in 2017.
In 2018, fertility doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life were given permission by HFEA to give two women MRT.
The UK was the first country to allow MDT within a regulatory environment, but it is not the first country to ever create babies in this way.
In 2016, the New Scientist reported that a baby was born via this method to Jordanian parents, and that they were treated in Mexico.
The goal was to prevent the child from inheriting a fatal genetic disease from his mother, who had previously lost two children to the illness.
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