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Chinese Scientist Says He's First To Create Genetically Modified Babies Using CRISPR (npr.org)
For the first time, a scientist claims to have used a powerful new gene-editing technique to create genetically modified human babies. From a report: The scientist, He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, says he used human embryos modified with the gene-editing technique CRISPR to create twin girls. "Two beautiful little Chinese girls name Lulu and Nana came crying into the world as healthy as any other babies a few weeks ago." He says in a video posted online. "The babies are home now with their mom Grace and their dad Mark." He says his team performed "gene surgery" on embryos created from their parents' sperm and eggs to protect the children from the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, which causes AIDS. The children' father is HIV-positive. "When Lulu and Nana were just a single cell, this surgery removed a doorway through which HIV enter to infect people," He says in the video, one of several posted online to justify and explain the work. Because the research has not yet been published in a scientific journal or carefully vetted by other scientists, many researchers and bioethicists remain cautious about the claim.
Should have only done this to one twin, imho, it would be a great case study on side effects.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
It's you !!
One guy was already cured of HIV through a bone marrow transplant from another individual with genetic immunity to the disease. To use CRISPR to make the genetic tweak doesn't seem all that farfetched.
I don't trust any science claims coming out of China anymore.
Parents: Grace, Mark
Are these Chinese names? Shit, am I being racist?
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Read up on the CCR5 Delta32 mutation.
Marconi's spark radio to smartphones. A few base pair deletions to? We have no idea what is about to happen but it will be Earth shaking.
Yes but HIV is not genetic so why was the father being HIV positive a problem considering, as I understood it, we're talking in vitro here?
If true, I think this can be good for the human race. Not to make us all the same, but to make us different. It's accepted that species with wider gene diversity are more resilient. OK some of us may die because of mistakes and wrongdoing but that happens every day in our society anyway - traffic accidents, crime, war etc.
Indeed. Innate resistance to HIV is well known. The gene that causes it has been identified, and 23andMe will even tell you if you have that gene.
With an HIV positive dad, the benefit to these GMO babies outweighs the risks.
Will they have to have CONTAINS GMO tattoos?
The effect of gene modifying in human may not even show up for a long time. We still have to wait for at least another 20-30 years or even human life time. At least these twin girls would be the first guinea pig for the whole human race (regardless the ethical issue which may rise in the future).
Here come the Kaiju!
Hasn't been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal, probably another fake.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
From the people who brought us Tiangong-1: New, Improved, Much Better than Before Human Beings. Yeah, what could go wrong?
I'd be curious about long-term testing for these twins if they've developed true permanent HIV immunity and if they're able to pass it along to offspring. Also, if there are any unintended consequences of this modification.
Sorta what you said, but also not.
From the article you linked
The second step of virus entry and the first absolutely required for infection entails binding of Env to its primary receptor,the host protein CD4 (Maddon et al. 1986; McDougal et al. 1986). Env is a heavily glycosylated trimer of gp120 and gp41 heterodimers.
Note the "absolutely required"
The third step of virus entry, coreceptor binding, is widely thought to be the trigger that activates the membrane fusionpotential of Env. HIV strains can be broadly classified based on their coreceptor usage. Viruses that use the chemokine receptor CCR5 are termed R5 HIV, those that use CXCR4 are termed X4 HIV, and viruses that can use both coreceptors are called R5X4HIV (Berger et al. 1998). There is no compelling evidence that coreceptors other than CCR5 and CXCR4 play important roles in supporting infection of HIV-1 in vivo. With rare exception, only R5 and R5X4 viruses are transmitted between individuals (Keele et al. 2008), likely owing to multiple imperfect but overlapping host restrictions on X4 HIV transmission (reviewed in Margolis and Shattock 2006).
The NPR.org article says that the researcher blocked the CCR5 pathway, So if the father has the R5 or R5X4 HIV variant, then the genetic modification will indeed prevent the daughter's getting infected from their dad.
If I recall correctly, this "fix" would also cause the daughters to be immune to the bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis). I suspect that what he did was copy the CCR5 delta 32 mutation into the embryo. it's a mutation known not to be harmful.
All your base pairs belong to us!
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Ah yes. Happened to get a disease, possibly from nothing you did "wrong"? NO KIDS FOR YOU! Sounds like a solid argument to me. /s
You have no chance to survive make your time.
Or maybe the grandchildren -- farmers are not allowed to breed seed.
Fuck's sake... we've got seven billion on this planet and people are helping AIDS victims reproduce??
What in the flying fuck...
It seems like we should help everyone or no one. Tell me how AIDS victims are less deserving than someone who waited until she was 40. The only tier of people that's more deserving is those who had no hand in making their situation, such as those with birth defects or gay couples.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
The Chinese recently let it be known that they will now start respect and enforce IP laws. That means they are in the process of moving beyond stealing because they are overtaking the west. The west has gotten fat, lazy, stupid and only interested in its own, homemade problems. Not saying the Chinese model of modern society is something to aspire to (I do not think so, the "social score" idea is right out of a 3rd Reich playbook...), but it is something that seems to begin to work and produce results. And that makes the failure of the west even more of a problem.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
We will see. Possibly. But since nobody in the West is doing this type research, it is kind of hard to be sure. But even if it is fake, the reactions to the news will be very interesting.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Yeah, while other countries are still enforcing their naive ethics-based bans, the Chinese just power ahead. I, for one, welcome our new Chinese mutant overlords.
Grace and Mark are not Chinese names. Are Anglicized names common in Hong Kong, or are the parents from somewhere else?
Since humanity has pretty much overridden many of the facets of natural selection in the human race with our medical technologies, gene editing like this is probably about the only way we're going to evolve as a species. Future generations could be free of genetic diseases, obesity, and have extended life spans. Assuming the religious nuts don't go to war on it.
Certainly there are some ethical concerns - ie what if the modifications cause a child to be born with massive defects, extreme pain, or a short life span. The scientists performing the work will have to be very careful with the modifications they make to avoid something like that from happening, but I think as long as they take proper care in their work that it shouldn't. It's also worth asking the question, if we have the technology, is it ethical to not try and cure genetic diseases/etc and let children suffer that could otherwise have been free of illness? Certainly this case at least falls under that umbrella.
To be fair, it would not be surprising in the least if they did achieve outrageous things with CRISPR. I am not in biotech, but I have been to a number of talks about CRISPR by the people in the field and it is incredible how often something is a no-go because of legislation. There is a whole huge discussion about where to draw a line between using CRISPR to help sick people and making sure that whatever it is you helped them with doesn’t get passed on to their offspring. China just modifies away.