In Vitro fertilization: choose healthy embryos
The first genetically selected child was born "from a test tube"
In the United States, the first child who passed such testing at the embryo stage was born "from a test tube," writes the British newspaper The Guardian (IVF baby born using revolutionary genetic-screening process).
The results of clinical trials of the NGS method will be presented on July 8 in London, at the conference of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
Connor Levy was born on May 18 in Philadelphia (USA). His parents, 36-year-old Marybeth Scheidts (Marybeth Scheidts) and 41-year-old David Levy (David Levy), for a long time could not conceive a child naturally and three times unsuccessfully tried to do it by intrauterine insemination, until they were included in the international program of clinical trials of the NGS method, headed by infertility specialist Dagen Wells (Dagan Wells) from Oxford University (UK).
The reason why the couple was included in the program was the suspicion that their embryos, both resulting from natural fertilization and as a result of IVF, have chromosomal abnormalities, which does not allow them to be implanted into the uterus.
After a standard IVF procedure performed at the Main Line Fertility Clinic in Pennsylvania, 13 embryos were obtained. After five days of cultivation, several cells were isolated from each of them, which were sent to Oxford for genetic screening. Testing showed that although all the embryos looked perfectly normal, only three of them had the correct chromosome set.
Based on the screening results, one of the healthy embryos was successfully implanted into Scheidz's uterus and Connor was born nine months later. It is expected that in a few months in the United States, another child will be born who has undergone a similar genetic screening using the NGS method.
According to Wells, if the entire series of clinical trials is successful, screening for chromosomal abnormalities by the NGS method in the next five years may become part of the standard set of medical studies required for IVF. Its comparative cheapness and speed of obtaining results is ensured due to the fact that in this case the whole genome is not sequenced, but only the number of chromosomes is counted.
At the same time, the NGS method also allows for genome-wide sequencing, which makes it possible to assess the risk of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and oncological diseases in the unborn child, as well as, in principle, to select embryos for many other signs. Commenting on the fears that the introduction of the method into widespread practice could lead to a general fashion for "designer" children, Wells expressed the opinion that the probability of such a development of events is low: "IVF is too expensive and uncomfortable procedure without any guarantee for the appearance of a child in the end. I don't think that people will en masse decide on this difficult path if they don't have serious reasons for it."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.07.2013