MITOCHONDRIAL
REPLACEMENT THERAPY - SCI & TECH
News:
U.K. sees success in
mitochondrial replacement therapy
What's
in the news?
●
Eight years after the U.K. became the
first country in the world to approve a reproductive technique known as
mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), “less than five” children have been
born using the procedure, as of April 2023.
Need
for MRT:
●
As of 2013, about 12,000 people in the
U.K. live with such conditions, the reason why the therapy was approved by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
●
According to the HFEA, one in 6,500 babies
in the U.K. is born with a mitochondrial
disorder which can lead to serious problems such as heart and liver
disease, and respiratory problems, which can even lead to the death of the
infant.
●
In
the U.S., 1,000-4,000 babies with mitochondrial disease are born each year.
Mitochondrial
Replacement Therapy:
●
Mitochondria replacement involves
transferring nuclear genetic material from a mother’s egg into a donor egg that
has had its nuclear DNA removed so the embryo does not inherit the
mitochondrial disease. (Mitochondrial donation
is a medical technique in which defective mitochondria carried by a woman is
replaced with the healthy mitochondria of a donor)
●
This would allow a woman carrying
mitochondrial diseases to have healthy children.
●
The resulting IVF embryo combines sperm
and egg from the biological parents, while the mitochondria is from the donor’s
egg.
Three-parent
IVF:
●
As a result, the baby has DNA from each of
its parents, along with 37 genes from the donor.
●
This is the reason why this technique is
also called three-parent IVF (in vitro fertilisation).
Significance:
●
It will prevent transmission of mitochondrial (genetic) disease from one
generation to the next.
●
It will give parents chance of having a
child that is over 99% genetically matched to them and most importantly free of
the mitochondrial disease.
●
It has no impact on personality or looks
of the offspring from third DNA set, as surrogate mitochondrial DNA is separate
from core DNA in cells.
Go
back to basics:
Mitochondria:
●
Mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell, and any mutation that damages the
mitochondria tends to affect energy-hungry organs the most.