UK May Be Close To Approving Nuclear Transfer Technique for IVF

The conception of children who share the genes of three parents could be one step closer to reality.

Last week the the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in the United Kingdom recommended that the British government legalize nuclear transfer techniques for parents to conceive children by in-vitro fertilization using donor eggs in order to avoid passing on the mother’s own mitochondrial DNA

Many severe disorders are passed from mother to offspring through the mitochondrial DNA.* Mutations in the genes of the mitochondria have also been found in connection with many kinds of cancers. Nuclear transfer would offer prospective parents a way around the dilemma.

The procedure would involve methods similar to the one I wrote about late last year being tested by Dieter Egli at the New York Stem Cell Foundation.

According to Jessica Griggs writing in this week’s New Scientist, there are two different methods being considered by the HFEA in the UK.

One is being pioneered by Shoukhrat Mitalipov at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton. His method involves inserting the nucleus from an egg...