Embryo test may prevent genetic defects

Press, 17 December 1988, Page 39

Embryo test may prevent genetic defects

NZPA London Women giving birth to children with inherited diseases such as muscular dystrophy could soon be a thing of the past as a result of research being done at a leading London Hospital. Doctors at Hammersmith Hospital are preparing to use test-tube baby techniques to screen out women’s embryos containing genetic defects. Professor Robert Winston, head of the hospital’s infertility clinic, said the technique had already been performed on mice and all the experimental evidence suggested the method could be successfully transferred to humans. The diseases which the technique will prevent include haemophilia, muscular dystrophy and some forms of mental retardation. It will later be extended to include other inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Down’s syndrome and Huntingdon’s chorea. The technique works by

mixing several eggs from the mother-to-be with her husband’s sperm in a test tube as for a “normal” test-tube baby conception. After two or three days a single cell is taken from one of the fertilised embryos growing in the test tube. The embryo continues to grow unharmed and the single cell, after undergoing a technique to amplify its genetic material, is examined for the presence of the gene responsible for the disease in question. If the gene is found, indicating that the baby would develop into one carrying the disease, the embryo is discarded. The test is then applied to another embryo until one is found which is clear of disease. This is then implanted into the mother in the knowledge that it will develop into a healthy baby. Professor Winston said he had performed experimental biopsies on 400 “spare” embryos in preparation for the introduction of the technique