Britain gives scientist go-ahead to genetically modify human embryos

LONDON -- Scientists in Britain have been given the go-ahead to edit the genes of human embryos for research purposes, using a technique that some say could eventually be used to create "designer babies."

Less than a year after Chinese scientists caused an international furor by saying they had genetically modified human embryos, Kathy Niakan, a stem cell scientist from London's Francis Crick Institute, was granted a license to carry out similar experiments.

"The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority has approved a research application from the Francis Crick Institute to use new 'gene editing' techniques on human embryos," Niakan's lab said on Monday.

It said the work carried out "will be for research purposes and will look at the first seven days of a fertilized egg's development, from a single cell to around 250 cells."

The scientists will not be allowed to develop the modified embryos for clinical purposes or implant them into any women.

Niakan plans to carry out her experiments using what is known as CRISPR-Cas9, a technology that is already the subject of fierce international debate because of fears that it could be used to create babies to order.

CRISPR can enable scientists to find and modify or replace genetic defects. Many experts have called it "game-changing."

David King, director of the UK campaign group Human Genetics Alert, said Niakan's plans would eventually lead to "a future of consumer eugenics.”

"This research will allow the scientists to refine the techniques for creating GM babies," he said in a statement.

But Sarah Norcross, director of Progress Educational Trust, which campaigns for ethically sound research in genetics, said the HFEA's decision was "a victory for level-headed regulation over moral panic.”

Niakan says she has no intention of genetically altering embryos for use in human reproduction, but wants to deepen scientific understanding of how a healthy human embryo develops, something that could, in the long term, help to improve infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization.

The work will be carried out on embryos that have become surplus to donor patients IVF treatment.

At a briefing for reporters in London last month, she said the first gene she planned to target was one called October 4, which she believes may have a crucial role in the earliest stages of human fetal development.

Bruce Whitelaw, a professor of animal biotechnology at Edinburgh University's Roslin Institute on Scotland, said the HFEA's decision had been reached "after robust assessment.”

"This project, by increasing our understanding of how the early human embryo develops and grows, will add to the basic scientific knowledge needed for devising strategies to assist infertile couples and reduce the anguish of miscarriage," he said in an emailed comment.

source: interaksyon.com

Study: IVF in young women tied to later breast cancer

Women who go through in vitro fertilization (IVF) early in life are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer compared to those who don't undergo the treatment, suggests a new study.

The findings, however, cannot determine whether IVF contributed to the cancers or whether something else could explain the link.

"I don't think it's a huge increased risk that you should worry or panic (about)," said Louise Stewart, the study's lead author and a researcher at the University of Western Australia in Crawley.

She added, however, that her findings did show a link between the two and doctors should keep that in the back of their minds.

For the new study, Stewart and her colleagues collected information on 21,025 women between the ages of 20 and 40 years old who went through fertility treatment at the hospitals of Western Australia between 1983 and 2002.

They were able to piece together enough data to follow the women for some 16 years to see if they developed breast cancer.

When all the women were analyzed together, the researchers did not see an overall link between IVF and breast cancer.

Roughly 1.7 percent of the 13,644 women who only had fertility drugs without IVF ended up developing breast cancer by the end of the study. That figure was about two percent for women who got fertility drugs and IVF - a difference the researchers say isn't statistically significant.

When they divided the women into two different age groups, however, that changed.

Women who started taking fertility drugs around their 24th birthday and went through IVF had a 56 percent greater chance of eventually developing breast cancer compared to those in the same age group who only went through fertility treatments without IVF.

Meanwhile, there was no increased risk for women who started fertility treatments when they were about 40 years old, regardless of whether they had IVF or not, according to findings published in Fertility and Sterility.

Stewart told Reuters Health that the most likely reason the younger women see an increased risk of breast cancer is that they are exposed to higher levels of circulating estrogen during their cycles of IVF treatment.

"The development of breast cancer is linked to estrogen exposure and the longer one is exposed, the greater the risk," said Dr. Linda Giudice, president-elect of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, in a statement.

"In an IVF cycle, there is a short, but significant elevation in circulating estrogen, and whether this is linked to the observations found in this study is not clear at this time," Giudice said.

Stewart added, another explanation could be that younger women who undergo IVF may be different in some significant way from those who only have other types of fertility treatments.

"If, for example younger women who had IVF were more likely to have a specific cause of infertility, and this was related to an increased risk of breast cancer, then it would appear that IVF was related to breast cancer when in fact it was the type of infertility that was more common in women who had IVF," Stewart explained.

She emphasized that this is "just speculation," and the data used in the study didn't include information about the women's causes of infertility. She also said that the current study's results need to be confirmed by future research.

Giudice, who was not involved with the new study, added, "Women should be reassured that, overall, IVF was not associated with an increased risk for development of breast cancer."

SOURCE: bit.ly/MDKsYi Fertility and Sterility, online May 28, 2012. IVF in young women tied to later breast cancer


Women who go through in vitro fertilization (IVF) early in life are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer compared to those who don't undergo the treatment, suggests a new study.

The findings, however, cannot determine whether IVF contributed to the cancers or whether something else could explain the link.

"I don't think it's a huge increased risk that you should worry or panic (about)," said Louise Stewart, the study's lead author and a researcher at the University of Western Australia in Crawley.

She added, however, that her findings did show a link between the two and doctors should keep that in the back of their minds.

For the new study, Stewart and her colleagues collected information on 21,025 women between the ages of 20 and 40 years old who went through fertility treatment at the hospitals of Western Australia between 1983 and 2002.

They were able to piece together enough data to follow the women for some 16 years to see if they developed breast cancer.

When all the women were analyzed together, the researchers did not see an overall link between IVF and breast cancer.

Roughly 1.7 percent of the 13,644 women who only had fertility drugs without IVF ended up developing breast cancer by the end of the study. That figure was about two percent for women who got fertility drugs and IVF - a difference the researchers say isn't statistically significant.

When they divided the women into two different age groups, however, that changed.

Women who started taking fertility drugs around their 24th birthday and went through IVF had a 56 percent greater chance of eventually developing breast cancer compared to those in the same age group who only went through fertility treatments without IVF.

Meanwhile, there was no increased risk for women who started fertility treatments when they were about 40 years old, regardless of whether they had IVF or not, according to findings published in Fertility and Sterility.

Stewart told Reuters Health that the most likely reason the younger women see an increased risk of breast cancer is that they are exposed to higher levels of circulating estrogen during their cycles of IVF treatment.

"The development of breast cancer is linked to estrogen exposure and the longer one is exposed, the greater the risk," said Dr. Linda Giudice, president-elect of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, in a statement.

"In an IVF cycle, there is a short, but significant elevation in circulating estrogen, and whether this is linked to the observations found in this study is not clear at this time," Giudice said.

Stewart added, another explanation could be that younger women who undergo IVF may be different in some significant way from those who only have other types of fertility treatments.

"If, for example younger women who had IVF were more likely to have a specific cause of infertility, and this was related to an increased risk of breast cancer, then it would appear that IVF was related to breast cancer when in fact it was the type of infertility that was more common in women who had IVF," Stewart explained.

She emphasized that this is "just speculation," and the data used in the study didn't include information about the women's causes of infertility. She also said that the current study's results need to be confirmed by future research.

Giudice, who was not involved with the new study, added, "Women should be reassured that, overall, IVF was not associated with an increased risk for development of breast cancer." — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com