Problems of Germline Therapy
By Anne McLaren and Jonathan Ewbank,
Nature
| 04. 16. 1998
Vol. 392, April 16, 1998
Sir-You recently published a full-page
report of a Californian symposium on germline gene therapy,
and a leading article, without a single mention of preimplantation
genetic diagnosis.
If a couple are at risk of having a child with a serious genetic
disease, it is now possible for them to have their embryos screened
at the eight-cell stage, after in vitro fertilization, to ensure
that only unaffected embryos are transferred to the uterus.
Only in the very rare cases where both partners are sufferers
from a recessive condition that allows survival to reproductive
age, such as cystic fibrosis, will no unaffected embryos be
generated. As 10-20 embryos could be produced from a single
egg recovery, it would not be difficult also to avoid the birth
of carriers if that was desired.
Most couples would surely prefer to avoid the transfer of
affected embryos, rather than seeking to tamper with their DNA
at such an early stage, with possibly unpredictable consequences.
Leroy Hood, chair of molecular biotechnology at the University
of Washington, said: "We are using exactly the...
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