Couple to have Britain's first baby genetically modified to be free of breast cancer gene

Helen and Matthew are to be the first of two couples to have their embryos screened to try to beat breast cancer

The first British baby designed to be free of breast cancer is due to be born next week.

The child's parents opted for genetic screening tests in the hope of freeing their children from the disease which has blighted the lives of their relatives for generations.

Without screening, any girl they had would have been likely to develop a fast spreading, hard-to-treat form of breast cancer.

Doctors at University College Hospital, London, created embryos through IVF then screened them for the deadly gene before transferring only healthy ones into the womb. The sex of the baby is not known.

Paul Serhal, medical director of the hospital's assisted conception unit, said the pioneering treatment, which was carried out on the NHS, allowed the parents the chance of a healthy family. Many more couples could benefit from pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.

But pro-life campaigners claim it is morally wrong to weed out imperfect babies and describe the technique, in which unhealthy embryos are left to perish, as a 'tool for search and kill'.



The mother-to-be, a 27-year-old London woman who wishes not to be identified, opted for screening after three generations of her husband's family developed an inherited form of breast cancer while still in their 20s.

Her 28-year-old husband is a carrier and those diagnosed with the disease include his mother, sister, grandmother and cousin.

She said: 'We had been through his sister being ill, so it was something we had seen first hand.

'I thought this was something I had to try because, if we had a daughter with this gene, and she was ill, I couldn't look her in the face and say I didn't try.'

Had the couple conceived naturally, any child would have a 50 per cent chance of carrying the rogue gene. And any girl with the BRCA1 gene would have an 80 per cent chance of developing a fast-spreading, hard-totreat form of breast cancer.





The gene also gives a woman a 60 per cent chance of ovarian cancer and raises a man's risk of prostate cancer.

To screen it out, doctors used IVF techniques to create a selection of embryos. When they were three days old, one cell was plucked from each and analysed for the rogue gene.

Two of the five embryos found to be free of the gene were transferred into the woman, of which one resulted in the pregnancy. Mr Serhal, who has already created babies free from inherited eye and bowel cancers, said: 'A patient doesn't enter into this procedure lightly. They had genetic counselling and a lot of soul searching before going into this treatment.'

Until recently, PGD was used only for genes which invariably cause incurable diseases when inherited – such as those behind cystic fibrosis. Two years ago, the Government's fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, relaxed the rules.

Doctors can now screen for genes which, while raising the risk of illness, do not always lead to the condition. They can also look for embryos free of flaws which cause disease late in life, including a rare inherited form of Alzheimer's.

Addressing concerns that this is another step towards the creation of babies made to order by characteristics such as eye colour or hair colour, Mr Serhal said: 'This is a serious disease, not a physical characteristic. We are not screening for something banal or irrelevant.'

Last year, another couple spoke of their desire to use the technique to create a breast cancer-free baby. The couple, known only as Matthew and Helen, argued it would spare their children a devastating genetic inheritance.

Helen, 22, from Bedford, who lost her mother, maternal grandmother and great grandmother to cancer, said: 'I've lived much of my life with cancer and death, and fear that I might have to face it and might pass on the risk to my children. 'This gives us the chance to make sure our daughters won't have the same experience.'

Her husband, a biological scientist, said: 'I do understand the arguments against it, that the cancer might not develop for 30-plus years, but you have to consider that Helen has no female family left. It seems very unfair that a child of ours should have to go through the same thing when we have an opportunity to stop it.

'There is a world of difference between a disease like breast cancer and picking out blue or brown eyes.'



Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: 'What we want is a cure for breast cancer, not to eliminate those who carry it.

'I do think that by the time this baby grows up we will have cures for breast cancer. It is one of the diseases where we are making good progress.'