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Hospital stops gene from being inherited
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A 31-year-old woman suffering from a hereditary kidney disease made history last week when she gave birth to a completely healthy baby girl, Changzheng Hospital announced yesterday.
It was made possible by a new genetic technology that prevents the disease from being passed on to the next generation.
The mother, surnamed Shen, suffers from the same condition, autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, as her mother.
People with ARPKD can develop kidney problems and over 50 percent experience terminal kidney failure after age 60. It also can affect other organs.
ARPKD, the most common single-gene inherited renal disease, affects 1.2 million people in China.
There is a 50 percent chance that the disease will be genetically passed to the next generation, according to experts.
“Studies have found that the mutation of two genes — PKD1 and PKD2 — can cause the disease, and there is no effective treatment yet,” said Dr Mei Changlin, director of Changzheng’s nephrology department.
“Many patients make the painful decision to forgo having children because they are afraid of passing their disease on to the next generation.”
To help ARPKD patients have healthy children, the hospital launched a reimplantation genetic diagnosis program, which involves carrying out genetic testing on the embryo before it is implanted.
Doctors took six embryos from Shen, identified one that was normal and implanted it.
“We are extremely happy to help ARPKO patients to have healthy children,” said Mei.
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