Experiments on the birth of children from three parents have been recognized as ethical in the United States
Oleg Lischuk, N+1 An expert commission from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine of the USA (NAS) recognized ethical clinical trials of in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which a child receives DNA from three parents. The Commission also formulated the conditions ensuring the ethics of the procedure and outlined them in the report Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations.
The human genome, consisting of tens of thousands of genes and containing complete information about the structure of the organism, is stored in the cell nucleus. In addition to it, mitochondria have their own DNA – cellular organelles that produce energy. It contains only 37 genes that encode only the structure of the mitochondria themselves. The baby will receive these organelles from the mother, since the mitochondria of the sperm are destroyed shortly after conception.
Defects in the DNA of mitochondria lead to their incorrect operation. This is manifested by impaired functions of various organs, primarily with high energy consumption (brain, heart, muscles and others). Such disorders can be of varying severity – from mild to potentially fatal – and, as a rule, progress over time.
In order to save children from inheriting mitochondrial defects of the mother, IVF modifications have been developed in which the nucleus of a fertilized or unfertilized mother's egg is placed in a donor egg with a previously removed nucleus. Thus, the child receives the main genome from the mother and father, and the mitochondrial DNA from the donor woman. This procedure has been successfully tested on animals, and in February 2015 it was approved for clinical trials in the UK.
The American Commission reviewed the ethics of the study of the technique in humans at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which licenses such activities. In general, experts recognized experiments as ethical if they are carried out with a number of restrictions.
As the commission concluded, at the first stage of testing, only male embryos should be selected for gestation – they will not be able to transfer mitochondria to their descendants. Only women with clearly confirmed mitochondrial abnormalities, which are highly likely to lead to a serious illness of the unborn child, will be selected to participate in the experiment. Also, a necessary condition will be the mother's ability to carry a child without an increased risk to his or her health. Only medical centers with the highest level of reproductive technologies will be allowed to conduct tests.
If the initial stage of the tests is successful and after accumulating a sufficient number of observations, these restrictions will gradually be relaxed.
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04.02.2015