The official MedZine Blog

Interpretation of medical news

Mitochondrial donation could benefit thousands of parents

Mitochondrial donation could benefit thousands of parents

Mitochondrial donation could benefit thousands of British and American parents, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers calculated that 2,473 women in the UK and 12,423 women in the US are at risk of passing on mitochondrial DNA disease to their children. This equates to an average of 152 births per year in the UK, and 778 births per year in the US.

Mitochondrial diseases are caused by inherited mutations in mitochondrial DNAthat can lead to devastating in effects in the brain, muscle, liver and kidney. A possible solution to this problem is mitochondrial donation. With this IVF-based technique the faulty mitochondria inherited from the mother are removed and replaced with the healthy mitochondria of another woman. This way the nuclear DNA, which contais 99.9 percent of the genetic material from the mother and father, remains unchanged.

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, could be the first to offer mitochondrial donation, if the British parliament agrees with the new technique. To give an indication of the number of parents that would benefit from the new technique, the researchers identified the number of women in North East England who are at risk of passing on mitochondrial disease to their children. They then extrapolated this figure to the rest of the UK. A similar method was used for the US figures. According to Professor Doug Turnbull, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, “the findings have considerable implications for all countries that are considering to allow mitochondrial donation techniques.”

Source: New England Journal of Medicine.

MedZine writes twice per week about notable science.



Read more testimonials by health care professionals and advertisers

Follow us