Mitochondrial myopathies: clinical trials should be allowed.

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/earth/2008/02/05/sciparent105.xml

Mitochondrial myopathies are a class of genetic inheritable diseases that give rise to abnormal genes in mitochondria. In England, approximately one in every 6,500 persons suffers from this disease which translates to hundreds of affected families. Recently, a team of British researchers at the University of Newcastle has developed a way to produce genetically-altered embryos in order to prevent the inheritance of mitochondrial myopathies. So far, they have been able to: 1) produce mice embryos that do not inherit the mitochondrial myopathies from the parents, and 2) genetically alter infected embryos left over from fertility treatment to have normal mitochondria. Unfortunately, the research has been limited by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to experiments involving human cells and mice embryos. However, the Newcastle team contends that if clinical trials on human subjects were allowed, within three years, it could produce babies of the suffering families with genetic alterations such that the abnormal parts of the mother’s DNA can be replaced by another woman’s DNA.

Such medical innovation brought inevitably brought several ethical concerns. First concern involved the similarity between reproductive cloning methods and the Newcastle method. However, the 37 genes that are mutated in the Newcastle method are not in the nucleus with the DNA that encodes for physical traits; these New Castle method’s genes are within in the mitochondria organelle separated by several layers of membrane. Therefore, altering mitochondrial DNA does not have any affect on physical appearances and characteristics – something that is feared by many genetic therapy opponents to be racial and discriminatory. Another concern is the slippery slope argument: could the concession on clinical trials for Newcastle method eventually lead to concession on clinical trials for reproductive cloning? Although there is no guarantee that such scenario cannot occur, I believe that such concerns are too cautionary and not grounded on any evidence or justification. On the other hand, just as any parent has a right to seek the best medical help for their children, parents with mitochondrial myopathy ought to be able to pursue ways to prevent their children from inheriting the disease. The government cannot prevent parents from saving their children simply based on tentative claims about what might happen