News - Another 3-parent baby born using new method

Pronuclear Transfer Comes To Rescue Of Infertile Couple

A baby has been born to a previously infertile couple in Ukraine using a new type of "three-person IVF". Doctors in Kiev used a method called pronuclear transfer in what is a world first. Experts have called the procedure "highly experimental".

Doctors fertilised the mother's egg with her partner's sperm. They then transferred the combined genes into an egg taken from a donor. The child has the genetic identity of the parents, alongside a tiny amount of DNA from the second woman, said Dr Valery Zukin who led the procedure.

 The couple, who had been trying to conceive for over 10 years, "could not believe it, especially in the first weeks of pregnancy", he said.

It is, however, not the first child born with DNA from three parents. The baby girl, born on January 5, is thought to be the world's second "modern three-parent baby" - another child was created using a slightly different method in Mexico last year.

'Three-person IVF' has previously been used to prevent babies from inheriting serious genetic disorders, but this is the first time it has been used to treat infertility. The director of Kiev's Nadiya clinic told The Times the technique could in future be used to help woman in their 40s give birth using their own eggs.

However, scientists have warned the treatment has not been scientifically tested and could be unsafe or give women false hope.

Dr Zukin said the treatment could help women who experience a condition known as embryo arrest, which affects around one in 150 IVF patients and causes embryos to stop growing before they can be implanted.

 He shared a video on his Facebook page on Tuesday of an IVF fertilisation in progress, with congratulatory messages posted underneath by his contacts.

"Pronuclear transfer is highly experimental and has not been properly evaluated or scientifically proven," said professor Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, reported the BBC. "We would be extremely cautious about adopting this approach to improve IVF outcomes."

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority approved the use of 'three-person IVF' to prevent genetic diseases in the UK last month in a historic decision giving the controversial new fertility method the final go-ahead. 

One in 200 children are born with faulty genes in their mitochondria, which can lead to potentially fatal conditions. the independent & agencies