In Russia, launched a program for transcoding genes of unborn children

Russian scientist Denis Rebrikov, a biologist at the Academician V. I. Kulakov Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology, plans to intervene in the DNA of five human embryos using the CRISPR method, writes Air force.

Фото: Depositphotos

He told New Scientist last week that he already has five families who have agreed to have their unborn children's DNA tampered with to prevent the transmission of a genetic defect called hereditary deafness.

The CRISPR-Cas technology, developed a few years ago, makes it possible to very effectively make changes in the DNA, cutting out the regions needed by the researchers from the genes.

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To date, only one such intervention, performed by the Chinese geneticist He Jiankuem, is known, which claims that the genetic changes that it introduced into the DNA of embryos will lead to the birth of children with immunity to HIV infection.

Rebrikov reported that parents selected by him suffer from deafness caused by mutations in the GJB2 gene. When a child is born to two such parents, the genetic defect is inherited in 100% of cases.

Rebrikov hopes to intervene in the GJB2 gene structure in an already fertilized embryo using the CRISPR editing technique.

“This method is understandable to ordinary people,” said the Russian geneticist in an interview with a magazine correspondent. “Without genome editing, the child born to each of these couples would be completely deaf.”

Unlike the Chinese colleague, who conducted his experiments without applying for official permission to the Chinese authorities, Rebrikov plans to notify the Russian authorities about the planned intervention in the coming weeks.

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However, these experiments cause objections from some doctors and psychologists. They do not believe that deafness is a medical problem and argue that such people are able to lead a full life without the intervention of doctors. Moreover, from their point of view, attempts to treat such people are tantamount to discrimination.

In the early stages of the application of the CRISPR methodology, according to some scientists, such experiments should be carried out only in the event of an immediate threat to human life.

“First human trials should start on embryos that have fundamental defects,” says ethical medicine expert Julian Savulescu of the University of Oxford. “You shouldn’t start with embryos that could develop into a person who can lead a completely normal life.”

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