Can A Baby Have Three Parents? Therapy With DNA From 3 People Approved In UK

The U.K. has officially been approved to license clinics to create babies made from the DNA of three people, the Guardian reported Thursday. Mitochondrial replacement therapy, or MTR as it's referred to, would allow doctors to implant DNA from a third person into women who are at risk of passing genetic diseases that affect the body’s ability to sustain organ function.

Doctors in Newcastle who developed MTR said they were ready to start experimental trials on women trying to conceive. However, they must first apply for a government-approved license before they can perform on couples selected to receive the experimental treatment.

“Today’s historic decision means that parents at very high risk of having a child with a life-threatening mitochondrial disease may soon have the chance of a healthy, genetically-related child. This is life-changing for those families,” said Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority chairwoman Sally Cheshire in a statement Thursday. “We feel now is the right time to carefully introduce this new treatment in the limited circumstances recommended by the panel.”

The surgery was developed to help women with mutations in the DNA of their mitochondria, battery-like structures in cell tissue that provide energy, from passing along mutations during pregnancy by replacing a mother’s malfunctioning mitochondria with a healthy donor’s. A baby born with the help of MTR would have the normal 23 pairs of chromosomes. However, the child would have mitochondria for the healthy donor.

There are hundreds of mitochondria in human tissue cells that are passed along from a mother to a child following conception. Mutations can cause heart, brain and muscle failure, which for many children born with the disease, usually results in death. By preventing afflicted mitochondria from being passed along through MRT, doctors have said they can save thousands. Mitochondrial disease affects about one in every 10,000 newborns around the world.

In April, the world welcomed the first baby to be born with DNA from three people. The mother carried genes for Leigh syndrome, a disease that causes the degeneration of the central nervous system. However, with the help of a New York doctor and a donor’s healthy mitochondria, the woman was able to deliver a healthy baby at a hospital in Mexico.