Scientists who genetically produced babies say that society will eventually accept this

Chinese geneticist sentenced to 3 years in prison for genetic modification

Chinese scientist He Jiankui has announced that he has helped the birth of several babies whose genetics were modified. He was found guilty and sentenced to 3 years in prison. However, his sentence has recently come to an end, and geneticists have returned to work on living human beings^[1].

The whole story goes back some five years. A Shenzhen court found that He Jiankui and two of his colleagues had falsified documents and misled doctors by unknowingly implanting genetically modified embryos in women who were trying to conceive through artificial insemination. 

One mother gave birth to twin girls in November 2018, but another child was born under the same circumstances, but it is not clear exactly when. The court ruled that the three defendants had intentionally violated national regulations on biomedical research and medical ethics and recklessly used gene editing technology in human reproductive medicine.

In November 2018, a Chinese geneticist announced that he had modified a key gene in many human embryos in a way that is believed to confer resistance to HIV. The modification can be passed on to the offspring of children born with it. For his work, he selected pairs of couples where the father was HIV-positive and the mother was not.

Speaking at the International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, China, he said he wanted to protect babies from the possibility of later contracting HIV. He said the technique could be used to reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS in large parts of Africa, where those infected often face severe discrimination.

The announcement sparked a storm of criticism from scientists and ethicists attending the summit and around the world. Experts agree that there are safer and more effective ways of preventing HIV infections, and the experiment was considered premature, irresponsible and unjustified because it put babies at risk from gene editing, which has little benefit^[2].

Geneticist: society will eventually accept gene editing

In his first interview with the Japanese media, the convicted geneticist revealed that he had resumed research on genome editing of human embryos to treat genetic diseases in accordance with international rules, saying that "society will eventually accept it".

His renewed enthusiasm for research that breaks the bioethical taboo against artificially transcribed genes could have far-reaching implications.

Jiankui said he aims to treat rare genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and familial Alzheimer's disease using genome editing in human embryos. Since his release, he has reportedly set up three laboratories in China, including in Beijing and Wuhan, and resumed his research. "We will use discarded human embryos and comply with both domestic and international regulations," he explained, denying any current plans to give birth to more genome-modified babies^[3].

Regarding the three genome-edited children, he said they are perfectly healthy and have no growth problems, reporting that the twin girls, who are now at least 5 years old, are both attending kindergarten, while the other one, born in 2019, was a girl. 

He said that the results of the analysis of the children's gene sequences showed that the genes had not been modified except for medical purposes, indicating that genome editing was safe. I am proud to have helped families who wanted healthy children.

Reflecting on the criticism that his research was receiving from around the world at the time, he commented: "I regret that it was too hasty", but refused to explain explicitly why he had carried out the research in breach of international rules.

Scientist is 'proud' of his past work despite imprisonment

The geneticist also said he is trying to help people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but has so far suspended further work in defence of his methods.

"I am proud of this particular case," he told the packed audience, and he does not seem to regard imprisonment as a tipping point in his career. 

But other scientists are not so sanguine.

"It is very unfortunate that the first apparent application of this powerful technique to the human germ line has been done so irresponsibly," said Dr Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr David Baltimore, a Nobel laureate, leading AIDS researcher and immunology expert, called it "irresponsible". Baltimore, who supports a moratorium on human gene editing, said his experiment was medically unnecessary. 

"I don't think it was a transparent process. We only found out about it after it happened, so we feel marginalised," Baltimore said at a meeting in Hong Kong.

"It cannot be overstated how irresponsible, unethical and dangerous this is at this time. There will need to be a thorough investigation into what exactly happened and what, if anything, was confirmed before the experiment began," said stem cell biologist Kathy Niakan. A report from Britain's Francis Crick Institute said.

Most countries have laws or regulations that prohibit or make it very difficult to conduct experiments on humans.

He Jiankui bypassed the scientific community's own moratorium on work. He said he was not working in his university's own laboratories and procedures, but officials at the Southern University of Science and Technology said they were investigating.