HFEA approves new cloning technique

Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:00 AM

British scientists have been given the green light to clone an embryo containing genetic material from three parents.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) originally rejected the application from experts at Newcastle university, but today they reversed this decision.

The team from the Newcastle centre at LIFE intend to use the controversial genetic research to find a cure for mitochondrial diseases - muscle-wasting diseases caused by a faulty DNA passed from mothers to their babies.

Mitochondria - of which there are many in every cell of our body - convert food into energy in humans. Each mitochondrion has its own DNA which is separate from 'nuclear' DNA.

Nuclear DNA contains genetic information in the cell which influences the make-up of the whole body. However, mitochondrial DNA only provides instructions on how mitochondria behave.

If these genes are damaged, an affected person may develop severe disease leading to disability and death, and there are no current treatments available.

Studies in mice, described as "very encouraging" by the Newcastle scientists, have shown that it is possible to transplant the nucleus from a fertilised egg containing bad mitochondria to an unfertilised egg with good mitochondria and prevent the onset of the disease.

Today's decision came after leading scientists gave evidence to a HFEA appeal committee, focusing on the way the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 should be interpreted in relation to the proposed research.

After being satisfied that the research would be permissible under the Act, the appeal committee went on to consider the detail of the application.

"Having satisfied itself that the research activities were 'necessary and desirable' under the criteria in the HFE Act and that the use of embryos was necessary for the research, the committee ruled that a licence for this research should be granted," a HFEA statement read.

Dr Mary Herbert, the scientific director at the Newcastle Fertility Centre and Professor Doug Turnbull, professor of neurology at Newcastle university, will now follow up that research with studies on human embryos.

"We are proposing to determine if moving the pronuclei could ever be used for our patients by taking abnormally fertilised human eggs (which cannot be used for treatment) and transferring the pronuclei from one egg to another," Dr Herbert said in her initial application to the HFEA.

"Following this transfer we would monitor the possible carry-over of mitochondria between eggs and will determine whether the egg then develops normally.

"We hope that these studies will provide vital information as to whether we could ever prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases from mother to child."

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