Three-parent IVF gains approval in the UK

The UK is set to become the world's first country to allow a new in vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique known as 'three-parent IVF,' where the DNA of three people are merged into a single embryo.

Earlier last month, the UK House of Commons voted to amend the country's laws to allow for the procedure to be used for mothers with mitrochondrial disease who want to avoid passing the condition to their offspring. The next step was approval by the House of Lords, with the vote passing with considerable support in late February. 

The world's first three-parent baby is expected to be born as early as next year in Britain.

How 'three-parent IVF' works

The procedure involves extracting the nucleus of the mother's egg, leaving the defective mitochondria behind, and inserting it into the healthy mitochondria of a donor egg, from which the nucleus has been removed. This can be carried out before or after the egg is fertilised by the father's sperm. As a result, the child will possess 99.8 percent of genetic material from the parents and 0.2 percent from the mitochondrial donor, The Guardian reported.

Mitochondria, which are sometimes referred to as cellular 'batteries', are responsible for producing the energy required for every single cell in our bodies. While they do contain tiny amounts of DNA – 37 out of 25,000 genes to be exact – these do not in any way determine inherited traits such as appearance, personality or intelligence.

Approximately one in 6,500 babies will inherit defective mitochondria, which can only be passed down by the mother. This may lead to mitochondrial diseases, blindness, muscle dystrophy, intestinal disorders, liver failure and even premature death. This technique could well be the only hope for some women to bear healthy children without the "devastating and often fatal consequences" of carrying mitochondrial diseases, said Jane Ellison, the British public health minister, according to a report in The Guardian.

The technique first received government backing in 2013, following a public consultation on the ethics of using DNA from three people as a means of IVF reproduction, according to Medical News Today. 

Request for FDA approval

Across the pond, the scientist who pioneered this 'three-parent IVF' technique has requested for its approval by The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use as a treatment for age-related infertility, The Independent reported.

Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, the scientist behind the technique, has approached the FDA for permission to conduct a clinical trial where this mitochondrial transfer procedure is used as a fertility treatment for older women. Although the proposed British legislation only applies to women who are carriers of mitochondrial disease, the overwhelming support of British MPs have helped to strengthen Dr. Mitalipov's case with the FDA.

"The procedure is identical to mitochondrial disease treatment. It has to be shown we can improve the pregnancy outcomes for these patients, and we are looking forward to doing the clinical studies with older women," The Guardian quoted Dr. Mitalipov as saying.

Compared to a rare condition like mitochondrial disease, infertility is a big problem for modern society because of women delaying having children, affecting their egg quality. In the case of age-related infertility, the mother's aging mitochondria will be replaced with youthful donor mitochondria, allowing the mother to have a genetically-related child, according to The Independent report.

"Infertility is a very serious problem and these women deserve treatment as for any other disease. If the procedure is effective and safe, why would you hold it for one group of patients, but not for another?" Dr. Mitalipov said.

Nevertheless, there has been some backlash, with critics claiming that this could be the start of a slippery slope that leads to the advent of genetically modified designer babies.

British labour minister Frank Dobson, while supportive of legalising mitochondrial donations, said he could not justify its wider use as a general fertility treatment. "Mitochondrial donation is about children who are going to die. It's a much more sympathetic case than using it for older women who want to have children," he told The Independent.

Among those in support of the procedure is Dr. Gillian Lockwood, a reproductive ethicist. Less of a tenth of one per cent of the genome is actually going to be affected, she told The BBC. "The biggest problem is that this has been described as three-parent IVF. In fact, it is 2.001-parent IVF," she said.

With potential widespread demand for mitochondrial donation as a fertility treatment, much hinges on the House of Lords vote.

"We hope it will help in the US, and hopefully the FDA will move faster," said Dr. Mitalipov. "The families have heard about the UK outcome and they welcome it. We're very excited by it."

Further links:
Theindependent.co.uk
Theguardian.co.uk
Bbc.com
Medicalnewstoday.com