sábado, 5 de agosto de 2017

BioEdge: Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease

BioEdge: Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease



Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease
     
American and Korean scientists have published in Nature the details of how they successfully edited a single gene in human embryos. A team of American, Chinese and Korean scientists led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University used gene-editing CRISPR/Cas9 technology to eliminate a gene, MYBPC3, linked to a heart disorder.

Stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler said that the highly-anticipated paper was technically strong, innovative and rigorous – which suggests that other scientists will soon be building on Mitalipov’s achievements. Perhaps one of the most significant of these was its safety. The paper claims that there were no off-target mutations and no mosaic embryos.

The potential for the technique is immense. The article focuses on curing diseases. About 10,000 harmful single-gene mutations have been identified from breast cancer to Tay-Sachs. Interest in eliminating these will be intense.

However, when other less competent, less experienced and less ethical scientists scale up the number of embryos, safety could obviously suffer.

Nearly every observer stated the obvious: a technique for safely and effectively editing the human genome has significant ethical implications. It can be used not only for curing diseases but for “enhancing” embryos with “better genes”.

Therefore, Mitalipov’s team took great care to dot their ethical is and cross their ts. “Even though this preliminary effort was found to be safe and effective, it is crucial that we continue to proceed with the utmost caution, paying the highest attention to ethical considerations," said corresponding author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.

As Vivek Wadhwa, a technology expert from Carnegie-Mellon, wrote in the Washington Post, “CRISPR’s seductiveness is beginning to overtake the calls for caution.” For some scientists and bioethicists, the danger of haste can be averted with more reports and more ethics committees.

For others, creating and destroying human embryos for research is itself anathema. In this experiment, dozens of embryos were created, and all were destroyed before they had grown beyond a few days. But everyone recognised the potential for a new generation of eugenics, which has so long been under the shadow of the Nazis’ discredited ideology.

David Albert Jones, of the UK’s Anscombe Institute, penned a withering critique, “Unethical research with eugenic goals”. “The whole rationale for this experiment is to take a step towards genetic modification as an assisted reproductive technology,” he writes. “We are manufacturing new human beings for manipulation and quality control, and experimenting on them with the aim of forging greater eugenic control over human reproduction. This is not a case of using bad means for a good end, but of bad means to a worse end.” 
Bioedge
Saturday, August 5, 2017


We have a number of very important stories this week: a paper in Nature about gene-editing human embryos, a rise in euthanasia figures in the Netherlands, some appalling news about commercial surrogacy in India... plus a great interview with Yale bioethicist Lydia S. Dugdale about death and dying. 
But, for better or worse, this is a day for shameless self-promotion. Sorry. I have just published a book, The Great Human Dignity Heist, a collection of short essays on topics ranging from IVF to paleo-archaeology to polio epidemics to euthanasia and cannibalism. Its lurid sub-title is How bioethicists are trashing the foundations of Western civilization
If you live in Sydney, you are invited to a book launch at 1pm on this coming Thursday, August 10, at Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney. Professor Margaret Somerville will be the main speaker. (RSVP to mcook@mercatornet.com.) 
And of course, if you cannot make it, feel free to order a book online
In Australia from the publisher, Connor Court

https://goo.gl/V1vF8V 
In the US and Canada from Amazon (feel free to leave a review of the book!)

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Human-Dignity-Heist-Bioethicists/dp/1925501469/ 
Cheers


Michael Cook

Editor

BioEdge

NEWS THIS WEEK


by Michael Cook | Aug 05, 2017
Is it time to begin talking about a revival of eugenics?



by Michael Cook | Aug 05, 2017
Even if the government has banned overseas clients



by Michael Cook | Aug 05, 2017
A process which is "even more fundamental and ubiquitous than procreation"



by Michael Cook | Aug 05, 2017
Nearly 1 death in 20 is due to euthanasia



by Xavier Symons | Aug 05, 2017
What steps can be taken to avoid future conflicts between family and medical staff?



by Xavier Symons | Aug 05, 2017
Should we abandon arguments for abortion if they also permit infanticide?



by Xavier Symons | Aug 05, 2017
An Australian nurse has been found guilty by a Cambodian Court of running an illegal surrogacy business.



by Xavier Symons | Aug 05, 2017
A British PhD candidate has warned of the darker side of a transhumanist future.

IN DEPTH THIS WEEK


by Lydia S Dugdale | Aug 04, 2017
We need to recover a religious sense of dying, an ars moriendi.
BioEdge
Suite 12A, Level 2 | 5 George St | North Strathfield NSW 2137 | Australia
Phone: +61 2 8005 8605
Mobile: 0422-691-615
BioEdge: Human embryos modified to eliminate a single-gene disease

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario