UK couples request breast cancer embryo test:
UK doctors have applied for permission to help two couples avoid passing on hereditary breast cancer to their children. Paul Serhal, of University College London, has submitted a licence application to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to select embryos free from the BRCA1 gene mutation that causes the condition in their families.
The application follows a year of research by the UCL team, to identify the precise mutation that is triggering the disease in the patients' families. One of the couples being treated is reported to have lost three generations to breast cancer. Women with mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 face up to an 85 per cent chance of developing cancer in their lifetime, often in their thirties or forties, and are also at greatly increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.
If permitted, the couples will undergo a procedure called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This involves taking a single cell from a 2-4 day old embryo created using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), performing a genetic test on that cell, and then returning one or two unaffected embryos to the womb.
If permitted, the couples will undergo a procedure called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This involves taking a single cell from a 2-4 day old embryo created using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), performing a genetic test on that cell, and then returning one or two unaffected embryos to the womb.
The team is confident their application will be successful, as the HFEA has already approved in principle, the use of PGD for this purpose. A spokesperson for the HFEA said: 'Each application for conditions such as this must be considered on a case-by-case basis because of the difference in the way that families are affected by these conditions'. It was revealed recently that another London clinic has applied for permission to use PGD to select embryos free from early onset Alzheimer's disease.
Sources:
First designer babies to beat breast cancer: The Times: 26/4/07
Designer baby to beat risk of Alzheimer’s: The Sunday Times: 1/4/07