Scientists have found an effective way to utilize an editing tool that changes genes to alter them from disease carriers and mutate them so that they don’t pass diseases from one generation to another. This gene mutation will stop many diseases from affecting future generations of a family and then the planet as a whole. Many people marry and pass on genetic mutations that cause disease. So this study goes further than any particular bloodline.
The gene editing tool is called CRISPR and it has the ability to hone in on mutations in nuclear DNA that is the cause of a genetic heart disease, called cardiomyopathy, which can cause sudden death and heart failure. This research was published in the journal Nature. This was the very first time scientists had tested CRISPR on clinical-quality donated human eggs.
One of the greatest things about these findings is that once the gene has been corrected, this will enable all future embryos in that lineage to be free of that particular disease. This was verified by author Shoukrat Mitalipov, the director of the center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy in Portland, Oregon, at OHSU Portland’s aerial tram area. The author says that these studies are able to lift the burden of genetic diseases that plague certain families, off of their minds and make room for an even healthier planet in the process.
Co-author Paula Amato, M.D., believes that through this research the number of cycles will decrease with women who have been trying to produce disease-free embryos. Many women who have a lineage of disease, try multiple pregnancies before they can achieve a healthy embryo. So this is good news for those trying to conceive healthy children. Dr. Amato is a gynecological professor at OHSU School of Medicine.
Though cardiomyopathy can occur in men and women of all ages, it the number one cardiac arrest killer in young people today. With this study, the inherited disease can be erased totally in one family’s entire future lineage.
Source: OHSU News