Eight babies in the UK cleared of genetic disease thanks to mitochondrial donation

Doctors in the UK announced that eight babies have been born using a mitochondrial donation technique developed to prevent a potentially fatal mitochondrial disease. This method, implemented at the Newcastle Birth Centre, combines genetic material from both parents with an egg from a donor woman, ensuring healthy babies.

Doctors in the UK announced that eight babies have been born using a mitochondrial donation technique developed to prevent mitochondrial disease. This method, performed at the Newcastle Birth Centre, has been legal for 10 years.

Mitochondrial disease is an incurable condition that deprives babies of energy. Babies born with this condition can experience serious health problems. Approximately one in 5,000 babies is born with a mitochondrial disease.

The method, developed by British scientists, combines eggs and sperm from both parents with a second egg from a female donor. A female donor is used because mitochondria are inherited only from the mother.

Eggs from both the mother and the donor are fertilized in a laboratory with the father's sperm. Babies born with this technique inherit most of their genetic characteristics from their parents, but only about 0.1 percent of their genetic material from the donor.

Mitochondria, structures within cells that convert food into energy, are unable to provide the body with enough energy to keep the heart beating.

The disease can cause brain damage, seizures, blindness, muscle weakness and organ failure. The team in Newcastle estimates there is a demand for 20 to 30 donor babies each year.

According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 22 families underwent the process at the Newcastle Fertility Centre. Prof. Bobby McFarland, director of the NHS Mitochondrial Disorders Specialist Service, told the BBC.

"It's so positive to see the relief and joy on the faces of the parents of these babies after such a long wait, and to see them alive and developing normally," McFarland said.

Professor Mary Herbert, from Newcastle University and Monash University, said: "The findings provide grounds for optimism. However, research to better understand the limitations of mitochondrial donation technologies will be necessary to further improve treatment outcomes."

This technique was developed more than a decade ago by Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust. It became available within the NHS in 2017.

Women born with this technique can pass on the genetic change to their children. Professor Sir Doug Turnbull of Newcastle University said: “This is the only place in the world where this could happen. There was first-class science to get us to where we are, legislation that helped support the NHS and allowed it to move into clinical treatment. We now have eight children who appear to be free of mitochondrial disease.”

"Thanks to this progress and the support we've received, our little family is complete. The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude," said the mother of a baby boy.

“After years of uncertainty, this treatment has given us hope and our baby,” one mother said. “Now we look at them full of life and we are so grateful,” another family said.

Source: BBC