🧬 Eight Healthy Babies Born in the UK Using DNA from Three People

🧬 Eight Healthy Babies Born in the UK Using DNA from Three People

Published: July 17, 2025 | Source: Boston Herald / AP

🔬 What Happened?

Eight babies were born in Britain using a pioneering mitochondrial donation technique — combining DNA from:

• Mother (nuclear DNA)

• Father (nuclear DNA)

• Egg donor (healthy mitochondrial DNA)

This method helps prevent rare and deadly mitochondrial diseases passed from mother to child.

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⚙️ How Does It Work?

1. Mitochondria are small structures outside a cell’s nucleus that produce energy — and have their own DNA.

2. If a woman’s mitochondria carry harmful mutations, her child risks diseases like:

   • Muscle weakness

   • Organ failure

   • Seizures and even death

3. The new process:

   • Transfers the mother’s nuclear DNA into a donor egg (with healthy mitochondria and its nucleus removed).

   • Fertilizes the resulting egg with the father's sperm.

   • The embryo now contains DNA from three people — but over 99% still comes from the biological parents.

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🌍 Global Context

• Legal in the UK (since 2016) and Australia

• Banned in the U.S. due to concerns about heritable genetic modifications

• Requires strict approval by the UK fertility regulator (35 cases approved so far)

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👶 What Did the Study Show?

• Researchers worked with 22 patients; 8 healthy babies were born

• 1 woman still pregnant

• One baby had slightly higher levels of abnormal mitochondria — but not dangerous

• The genetic input from the donor is minimal (<1%) and doesn’t influence traits

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🧑‍⚕️ Why Is This Important?

• It offers hope for families devastated by incurable mitochondrial diseases

• Allows safe pregnancies for women who previously had no options

• Experts hail it as a “triumph of scientific innovation” — though it's likely to remain limited to rare, specific cases

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⚠️ Ethical Concerns

• Critics worry about long-term unknown effects on future generations

• U.S. bans such procedures due to fear of designer babies and heritable genetic changes

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❤️ Real-World Impact

Liz Curtis, who lost her baby to mitochondrial disease, now supports this research through the Lily Foundation:

“It’s super exciting for families that don’t have much hope in their lives.”

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