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A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 27 November 2018
First gene-edited babies claimed in China

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE Instead, the appeal was
AP Chief Medical Writer to offer couples affected
HONG KONG (AP) — A Chi- by HIV a chance to have
nese researcher claims that a child that might be pro-
he helped make the world's tected from a similar fate.
first genetically edited ba- He said the gene editing
bies — twin girls born this occurred during IVF, or lab
month whose DNA he said dish fertilization.
he altered with a powerful First, sperm was "washed"
new tool capable of rewrit- to separate it from semen,
ing the very blueprint of life. the fluid where HIV can lurk.
If true, it would be a pro- A single sperm was placed
found leap of science and into a single egg to create
ethics. an embryo. Then the gene
A U.S. scientist said he took editing tool was used.
part in the work in China, When the embryos were
but this kind of gene edit- 3 to 5 days old, a few
ing is banned in the United cells were removed and
States because the DNA checked for editing. Cou-
changes can pass to fu- ples could choose whether
ture generations and it risks to use edited or unedited
harming other genes. embryos for pregnancy at-
Many mainstream scientists tempts.
think it's too unsafe to try, In this Oct. 9, 2018 photo, a microplate containing embryos that have been injected with Cas9 Eleven embryos were
and some denounced the protein and PCSK9 sgRNA is seen in a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong used in six attempts before
province.
Chinese report as human Associated Press the twin pregnancy was
experimentation. achieved, He said.
The researcher, He Jiankui ity that it's not just to make health threat." The U.S. scientist who Tests suggest that one twin
of Shenzhen, said he al- a first, but also make it an "I think this is justifiable," worked with him on this had both copies of the in-
tered embryos for seven example," He told the AP. Church said of that goal. project after He returned tended gene altered and
couples during fertility treat- "Society will decide what to In recent years scientists to China was physics and the other twin had just one
ments, with one pregnancy do next" in terms of allow- have discovered a relative- bioengineering professor altered, with no evidence
resulting thus far. He said his ing or forbidding such sci- ly easy way to edit genes, Michael Deem, who was of harm to other genes, He
goal was not to cure or pre- ence. the strands of DNA that his adviser at Rice. said. People with one copy
vent an inherited disease, Some scientists were as- govern the body, using a Deem also holds what he can still get HIV.
but to try to bestow a trait tounded to hear of the tool that makes it possible called "a small stake" in Several scientists reviewed
that few people naturally claim and strongly con- to supply a needed gene and serves on the scientific materials that He provided
have — an ability to resist demned it. or disable one that's caus- advisory boards of He's two to the AP and said tests so
possible future infection It's "unconscionable ... an ing problems. companies. far are insufficient to draw
with HIV, the AIDS virus. experiment on human be- It's only recently been tried The Chinese scientist said conclusions.
He said the parents involved ings that is not morally or in adults to treat deadly he chose to try embryo It's unclear whether partici-
declined to be identified or ethically defensible," said diseases, and the changes gene editing for HIV be- pants fully understood the
interviewed, and he would Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a Uni- are confined to that per- cause those infections are purpose and potential risks
not say where they live or versity of Pennsylvania son. a big problem in China. He and benefits. For example,
where the work was done. gene editing expert and Editing sperm, eggs or em- sought to disable a gene consent forms called the
There is no independent editor of a genetics journal. bryos is different — the called CCR5 that forms a project an "AIDS vaccine
confirmation of He's claim, "This is far too premature," changes can be inherited. protein doorway allowing development" program.
and it has not been pub- said Dr. Eric Topol, who In the U.S., it's not allowed HIV, the virus that causes The study participants are
lished in a journal, where it heads the Scripps Research except for lab research. AIDS, to enter a cell. not ethicists, He said, but
would be vetted by other Translational Institute in Cal- China outlaws human All the men in the project "are as much authorities on
experts. ifornia. "We're dealing with cloning but not specifically had HIV and all the wom- what is correct and what is
He revealed it Monday in the operating instructions gene editing. en did not, but the gene wrong because it's their life
Hong Kong to one of the of a human being. It's a big He Jiankui (HEH JEE'-an- editing was not aimed at on the line."
organizers of an interna- deal." qway) studied at Rice and preventing the small risk of "I believe this is going to
tional conference on gene However, one famed ge- Stanford universities in the transmission, He said. The help the families and their
editing that is set to begin neticist, Harvard University's U.S. before opening a lab fathers had their infections children," He said. If it
Tuesday, and earlier in ex- George Church, defended at Southern University of deeply suppressed by stan- causes unwanted side ef-
clusive interviews with The attempting gene editing Science and Technology of dard HIV medicines and fects or harm, "I would feel
Associated Press. for HIV, which he called "a China in Shenzhen, where there are simple ways to the same pain as they do
"I feel a strong responsibil- major and growing public he also has two genetics keep them from infecting and it's going to be my own
companies. offspring. responsibility."q

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