But there are already reports that Huang's group and possibly others in China continue to try editing
the genes in human embryos.
The first UK license for CRISPR / Cas9 use in editing
genes in human embryos was granted in 2016, xvii and CRISPR - edited cells to treat lung cancer were administered in the world's first human trials for the technique by a Chinese group in late 2016.
Lanner is attempting to edit
genes in human embryos to learn more about how the genes regulate early embryonic development.
Other researchers have used CRISPR / Cas9 to repair mutated
genes in human embryos (SN: 4/15/17, p. 16; SN: 9/2/17, p. 6).
It's the second reported case of using molecular scissors called CRISPR / Cas9 to alter
genes in human embryos.
At the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Fredrik Lanner is preparing to edit
genes in human embryos.
However, altering
genes in human embryos can have unpredictable effects on future generations.
Chinese researchers have twice reported editing
genes in human embryos that are unable to develop into a baby (SN Online: 4/6/16; SN Online: 4/23/15).
But organizers of the International Summit on Human Gene Editing said editing
genes in human embryos was permissible for research purposes, so long as the modified cells would not be implanted to establish a pregnancy.
► The potency of new gene - editing technologies presents new ethical quandaries for scientists — as demonstrated by the debate following an announcement that a Chinese team had altered
genes in a human embryo.
In April 2015, researchers in China reported that they had used CRISPR, with limited success, to repair a disease - causing
gene in human embryos.
This concern was also brought to the forefront of the scientific and public consciousness when a report by Chinese scientists described the use of CRISPR - Cas to modify
a gene in human embryos making them resistant to HIV infection [to learn more about CRISPR - Cas, read our previous blog].
Not exact matches
The statement on Thursday comes amid a growing debate over the use of powerful new
gene editing tools
in human eggs, sperm and
embryos, which have the power to change the DNA of unborn children.
In April, Chinese researchers working with non-viable
human embryos (those that would never end up turning into people) used it to try to tweak a
gene that would normally have caused a rare blood disorder.
Then they would inject
human stem cells into the pig
embryo in hopes that the
human stem cells would bridge the gaps of the missing pancreas
gene and form a
human pancreas.
«Our licence committee has approved an application from Dr. Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute to renew her laboratory's research licence to include
gene editing of
embryos,» the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said
in a statement.
BETTER BABIES If CRISPR / Cas9 or other
gene - editing technologies are ever approved for use
in human embryos, parents may one day feel as if they have to use genetic enhancements to give their children the best life possible.
In February, the United Kingdom approved using the method on human embryos at the Francis Crick Institute in London, but only within a narrow capacity: Researchers can edit genes in non-viable human embryos for a limited period and only to study developmental biology related to in vitro fertilizatio
In February, the United Kingdom approved using the method on
human embryos at the Francis Crick Institute
in London, but only within a narrow capacity: Researchers can edit genes in non-viable human embryos for a limited period and only to study developmental biology related to in vitro fertilizatio
in London, but only within a narrow capacity: Researchers can edit
genes in non-viable human embryos for a limited period and only to study developmental biology related to in vitro fertilizatio
in non-viable
human embryos for a limited period and only to study developmental biology related to
in vitro fertilizatio
in vitro fertilization.
Scientists reported selectively altering
genes in viable
human embryos for the first time this year.
Nearly five years after the
gene - editing tool debuted, researchers for the first time have used it to alter
genes in viable
human embryos.
Meanwhile
in the U.S., the National Institutes of Heath restated its ban on
gene editing of
human embryos.
The genome - editing technique earned top honors,
in part because of achievements such as «the creation of a long - sought «
gene drive» that could eliminate pests or the diseases they carry, and the first deliberate editing of the DNA of
human embryos.»
Robl and Stice,
in collaboration with the biotech company Genzyme of Cambridge, Massachusetts, have already created
embryos that contain the
human gene for albumin protein, which helps restore the blood's osmotic pressure after blood loss.
The team found that
humans are equipped with tiny differences
in a particular regulator of
gene activity, dubbed HARE5, that when introduced into a mouse
embryo, led to a 12 % bigger brain than
in the
embryos treated with the HARE5 sequence from chimpanzees.
Ishii notes that if the clinical trial begins as planned, it would be the latest
in a series of firsts for China
in the field of CRISPR
gene editing, including the first CRISPR - edited
human embryos, and the first CRISPR - edited monkeys.
Goats as Drug Factories Initially, GTC generated transgenic goats by microinjecting into the developing nucleus of a one - cell
embryo a
gene encoding the desired
human protein (along with DNA that promotes activation of that
gene in milk).
The process, reported
in Human Reproduction, utilizes DNA fingerprinting (an assessment of active
genes in a given cell) to boost the success rate of IVF and lower the chances of risky multiple births by identifying which of several five - day - old
embryos are most likely to result
in pregnancy The new method, which will replace unproved alternatives such as choosing
embryos based on their shape, is likely to up the success of women becoming pregnant and lower their chances of having multiple births.
They found methylation defects on several
human genes in the cord blood and placentas of ART
embryos, suggesting that a similar effect might be occurring
in humans as well.
EDITS UNDER WAY Researchers
in Sweden have begun editing
genes in viable early
human embryos (four - cell stage, shown).
IN GOOD REPAIR CRISPR / Cas9 has corrected a gene defect in fertilized human eggs (left) without hampering embryo developmen
IN GOOD REPAIR CRISPR / Cas9 has corrected a
gene defect
in fertilized human eggs (left) without hampering embryo developmen
in fertilized
human eggs (left) without hampering
embryo development.
Today, biologists from Oregon report
in Nature that they have had unprecedented successes using that
gene - editing technology to alter early - stage, viable
human embryos.
«Understanding how
gene editing works
in human embryos will require research
in human embryos,» because mouse
embryos, for example, have species - specific developmental differences, notes Dana Carroll, a biochemistry professor at the University of Utah who researches CRISPR.
Prof Robin Lovell Badge, Crick Institute, on the science: «The experiments reported by Junjiu Huang and colleagues (Liang et al)
in the journal Protein Cell on
gene editing
in abnormally fertilised
human embryos are, I expect, the first of several that we will see this year.
In line with the views of most biomedical researchers, lawmakers struck a note of caution about the implications of new
gene editing techniques that make heritable changes to
human embryos.
A world
in which ectogenesis — the artificial development and «birth» of
human embryos outside the womb — is the norm, «and less than 30 per cent of children are... born of woman», a world of ectogenetic parents selected to improve the quality of the
gene pool, advancing each generation
in any desired respect «from the increased output of first - class music to... decreased convictions for theft».
They have demonstrated that,
in some
embryos, but not all, they can change the abnormal
human gene.
Two groups of researchers report today that washing
human skin cells
in similar cocktails of four
genes enabled them to reprogram the cells to resemble those harvested from
embryos.
But
in September last year the team announced it had applied to conduct genome editing on these
embryos — five months after researchers
in China had reported experiments applying CRISPR — Cas9 genome editing to non-viable
human embryos, which sparked a debate about how or whether to draw the line on
gene - editing
in human embryos.
The paper, reported on today by Nature News, is only the second - ever publication on the ethically fraught use of
gene editing
in human embryos.
In the Chinese
human embryo experiment, CRISPR cut many nontargeted
genes.
Amid rumors that precision
gene - editing techniques have been used to modify the DNA of
human embryos, researchers have called for a moratorium on the use of the technology
in reproductive cells.
Chinese researchers report this week that they have used the CRISPR
gene - editing technique to modify the genome of a
human embryo in an effort to make it resistant to HIV infection.
The
embryo work (done
in China with nonviable
embryos from a fertility clinic) even prompted an international summit this month to discuss
human gene editing.
She also suggested her company had already produced cloned
human embryos and developed a method to screen for imprinting defects
in 10
human genes.
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University captured the development of
human embryos in images as part of their work using a
gene - editing tool.
Researchers
in China have reported editing the
genes of
human embryos to try to make them resistant to HIV infection.
«People are more understanding of this research,» says Fan, who points to UK fertility regulators» approval
in February of a proposal by developmental biologist Kathy Niakan to edit
genes in healthy
human embryos, at the Francis Crick Institute
in London.
In April 2015, a different China - based team announced that they had modified a gene linked to a blood disease in human embryos (which were also not viable, and so could not have resulted in a live birth
In April 2015, a different China - based team announced that they had modified a
gene linked to a blood disease
in human embryos (which were also not viable, and so could not have resulted in a live birth
in human embryos (which were also not viable, and so could not have resulted
in a live birth
in a live birth).
Their paper — which used CRISPR - editing tools
in non-viable
embryos that were destroyed after three days — is only the second published claim of
gene editing
in human embryos.
The first results of
gene editing
in viable
human embryos reveals it works better than we thought, but that there's another big problem blocking the way