Could a 3-Person IVF Technique Give Life to 8 Babies Free from Mitochondrial Disease in the UK?

New Delhi, July 17 (NationPress) In an extraordinary achievement, researchers in the UK have successfully employed a three-person in vitro fertilization (IVF) method, resulting in the birth of eight healthy children, all of whom were spared from genetic mitochondrial disease.

The newborns -- comprising four girls and four boys, including a pair of identical twins -- were conceived using genetic material from three individuals.

These infants were born to seven women who were at high risk of transmitting serious diseases associated with mutations in mitochondrial DNA, according to findings from Newcastle University.

“All infants were born healthy, achieving their developmental milestones, while the maternal mitochondrial DNA mutations were either untraceable or at levels unlikely to cause any disease,” the researchers stated.

This groundbreaking study, detailed in two publications in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), outlines a method where the nucleus from the mother's fertilized egg, along with the father's sperm nucleus, is transferred into a healthy egg donated anonymously.

“Mitochondrial donation technologies are presently viewed as risk-reduction treatments due to the potential carryover of maternal mitochondrial DNA during the donation process. Our ongoing research aims to close the gap between risk reduction and the prevention of mitochondrial DNA diseases,” remarked lead author Professor Mary Herbert, a reproductive biology expert at Newcastle.

What is Mitochondrial Disease?

Mitochondrial diseases can impact various parts of the human body, affecting cells in the brain, nerves, muscles, kidneys, heart, and liver.

Annually, approximately one in 5,000 children is born with mutations in mitochondrial DNA that can lead to severe health issues, with symptoms manifesting as muscle weakness, exercise intolerance, hearing loss, vision problems, seizures, developmental delays, and heart complications.

As mitochondrial DNA is inherited maternally, these diseases are passed from mother to child. While males can be affected, they do not transmit the disease.

Currently, there is no cure for individuals affected by mitochondrial DNA disease.

What is the 3-Person IVF Technique?

The three-person IVF approach integrates nuclear DNA from both biological parents with mitochondrial DNA from a separate egg donor.

“The process effectively substitutes the defective mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with healthy mtDNA from the donor,” noted Herbert, who is now at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

The study revealed that mtDNA mutation levels in the blood were reduced by 95% to 100% in six of the newborns, and by 77% to 88% in the remaining two, compared to their mothers’ levels.

“These findings suggest that pronuclear transfer was successful in minimizing the transmission of mtDNA disease,” the researchers concluded.