A 32-year-old Greek woman gave birth on Tuesday to a baby boy carrying DNA from three people. The child’s birth is the result of a revolutionary technique which doctors say could help infertile couples around the world.
The woman participated in the first known clinical trial carried out using the Maternal Spindle Transfer technique for the treatment of infertility problems. The woman had already undergone two operations because of endometriosis, as well as four cycles of in-vitro fertilization attempts without getting pregnant.
The trial, carried out by the assisted reproduction center “Institute of Life in Athens,” in cooperation with the Spanish center “Embryotools,” has announced that twenty-four other women are taking part in the trial and eight embryos are ready to be implanted.
Dr. Panagiotis Psathas, president of the Institute of Life in Athens, stated after the birth that “A woman’s inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material became a reality.
“We are very proud to announce an international innovation in assisted reproduction, and we are now in a position to make it possible for women with multiple IVF failures or rare mitochondrial genetic diseases to have a healthy child,” he concluded.
MST consists of removing the original nucleus from the mitochondria of an unfertilized egg from a woman who has mutations in her mitochondrial DNA.
Doctors then extract the entire meiotic spindle of the mitochondria and place the spindle in the ovum of a donor with healthy mitochondria. Finally, the resulting oocyte is fertilized with the sperm of the male partner.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
