Technology for lab-grown eggs or sperm on brink of viability, UK fertility watchdog finds | Reproduction

Organizing eggs and sperm in a laboratory in order to have a child with yourself or three other people in a “multiple” parenting arrangement may seem like the plot of a dystopian novel.

But these startling scenarios are being considered by the UK’s fertility watchdog, which has concluded that the technology could be on the verge of feasibility.

Boosted by Silicon Valley investment, scientists are making such rapid progress that human eggs and sperm could be a reality within a decade. Meeting of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority Council I heard last week.

In vitro fertilization (IVGs), eggs or sperm created in a laboratory from skin or genetically rearranged stem cells, are seen as the holy grail of fertility research.

This technology promises to remove age barriers to pregnancy and could pave the way for same-sex couples to create biological children together. It also poses unprecedented medical and ethical risks, which the HFEA now believes need to be considered Comprehensive reform of fertility laws.

Peter Thompson, chief executive of the HFEA, said: “Intra-risk amnestics have the potential to significantly increase the availability of human sperm and eggs and, if proven safe, effective and publicly accepted, to provide new fertility treatment options to benefit men with low sperm counts and women with low ovarian reserve.” “

Technology also heralds more extreme possibilities including “single parenting” and “multi-parenting.” “It looks like we should have Steven Spielberg on this committee,” HFEA President Julia Chain said, in a brief moment discussing how to regulate the technology.

Lab-grown eggs have already been used to produce healthy babies in mice—including… Those with two biological parents. The equivalent feat has not yet been achieved using human cells, but US startups such as Aries and Gameto have He claims to be closing in on this award.

The HFEA meeting noted that estimated time frames ranged from two to three years – considered optimistic – to a decade, with many doctors at the meeting sharing the view that IVGs appeared to be a “routine part of clinical practice”.

Clinical use of IVGs would be prohibited under current law and there would be significant hurdles to proving that IVGs are safe, given that any unintended genetic changes to cells would be passed on to all future generations.

Technology also opens up countless ethical issues.

Solo parenting—not to be confused with social parenting—would involve creating eggs and sperm from the same individual. This creates a large loophole for recessive genetic disorders, caused by faulty genes that most people carry, but are usually unaffected by carrying two copies of each gene: one maternal copy and one paternal copy.

But a child with only one parent is more likely to lack a safe backup copy of the defective genes. Francis Fletter, emeritus professor of clinical genetics at King’s College London, and a member of the HFEA, told the meeting: “In a way, it’s the ultimate in incest. That’s why it’s so dangerous and why no one would ever consider it to be so “It’s safe.”

Solo parenting, members agreed, would need to be banned.

In contrast, there may be a case for allowing multiplex parenting, which does not pose the same biological risks and has – to some extent – a social precedent in the form of blended families or those who maintain a relationship with non-crosslinking donors. In multiple parenting, two embryo pairs will be used and cells from these embryos will be used to derive eggs and sperm in the laboratory to create a final embryo.

“In the final embryo, the four parents will actually be the baby’s grandparents,” said Rebecca Taylor, director of science policy at the HFEA. “The parents will be an embryo, if that makes sense.”

Other potential ethical concerns include the ability to create large numbers of embryos in the laboratory, which may make more comprehensive screening possible.

In areas where screening is less regulated than in the UK, where only testing for serious disease-causing mutations is allowed, it can veer into a form of eugenics, where desirable traits can be selected for, the HFEA said.

Lower age barriers may also create new challenges such as at-risk pregnancies in older mothers, and children born to older parents.

Thompson said: “Research on IVGs is progressing rapidly but it is not yet clear when they may be a viable option in treatment. IVGs raise important questions which is why the HFEA has recommended that they be subject to legal regulation in due course, and that the biohazardous use of IVGs in treatment should Never allow.

“This is the latest set of detailed recommendations about the scientific developments we look to in resisting HFE law in the future, but any decisions about updating UK fertility law are a matter for Parliament.”