Diagnosis of embryonic disease

Two British couples with family history of breast cancer became the first candidates to apply ' screening embryos ' to prevent inheritance risk. this disease for children. And, not only breast cancer, in the future people will avoid many incurable diseases when this technique becomes popular .

For the first time in the history of human medicine, in-depth tests were conducted by Dr. Paul Serhal of University Hospital London, to select embryos that do not carry breast cancer. However, this work has reopened the debate about the morality of choosing a fetus .

BRCA-1 gene

In May 2006, British lawmakers accepted doctors to apply embryonic screening techniques to detect BRCA-1 breast cancer early, which causes a 60% -80% increase in risk. adult cancer. This technique previously only aimed at limiting genes carrying the ability to 90% -100% risk of disease. After one year of research and identification of precise mutations affecting patients, BS Serhal proposed to the Reproductive Agency and Human Embryo (HFEA) and the possibility in the next few months will be accepted when the agency This confirms that this technique is very reliable.

Speaking at a recent symposium in London, Dr. Serhal said: '. Breast cancer is a terrifying villain. Interventional surgery can be used as a way to prevent this disease early, but is often potential for seizures, relapses and metastases . Hopefully this new direction will prevent the risk of inheriting disease. maybe right from the first generation. At least starting with their children, we can get this gene out of the family diagram . Unfortunate women who carry BRCA-1 genes have a 40% higher risk of ovarian cancer and BRCA-1 is also linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer, especially the same generation of homosexuals with very high inheritance . '.

IVF support

When licensed, couples must apply in vitro fertilization (IVF), as this is a necessary step to allow a single cell to be removed from the embryo at the 8th stage. of the development process, to be tested and discovered BRCA-1 gene. Only when it is certainly not affected by BRCA-1, the embryo is transferred into the womb for further development.

Although in May last year, HFEA accepted the application of this technology after a community survey showed a high support rate. This is a good signal for the research team of Dr. Serhal to develop a test technique to detect specific mutations in the BRCA-1 gene that families with a history of breast cancer must have. 'We are very confident because HFEA said it is very reliable,' said Dr. Serhal. Accordingly, each type of specific disease must be considered on a case-by-case basis, because there are many different ways of inheriting and distributing diseases . '.

Josephine Quintavalle expert in the embryonic rights group, an organization on fertility ethics, said: 'This is the best way to treat the disease and may not be too far in the future, will be a measure. The treatment of breast cancer is not based on the technique of limiting the disease, but attacking the disease directly . '.

Debate

Hopefully in the next few months, when approved by the British HFEA, this technique will not only help eliminate genes that cause breast cancer, but also eradicate most incurable diseases.

However, some sociologists fear that this technique 'could make society go down, because it would put the risk of creating order-based children in both physical and wisdom.'. And, the controversy over the morality of modern reproductive techniques is like a re-emergence when people think that this work is against principles and lack of morality, because it will lead to humanitarian risks, including the destruction of embryonic quality and will never meet the conditions for development to create a human being. Even if that happens, the baby will be very difficult to avoid weakness and illness in the early years .

Dao Nguyen Hung synthesized