Pregnancy reported in the first known trial of ‘three-person IVF’ for infertility
A 32-year-old Greek woman is reportedly pregnant from an experimental reproductive technique that uses DNA from three people — as part of the first known clinical trial to use the controversial procedure to treat infertility.
The procedure, known as mitochondrial replacement therapy, is banned in the U.S., because of concerns that introduction of DNA from a third “parent” into an embryo is a form of genetic modification that could affect generations to come.
The first baby conceived with this technique was born in 2016, but in that case the purpose was to allow parents to have a child without passing on a genetic mutation that, but it is not part of a formal trial. If the method works better than conventional in vitro fertilization to treat infertility, it could lead to a radical new way to have children for older women and those struggling to get pregnant.
