Zouves Fertility Center, Foster City, California.
Zouves Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, Foster City, California.
CRISPR J. 2019 Oct;2(5):304-315. doi: 10.1089/crispr.2019.0044.
Germline genome editing (GGE) holds the potential to mitigate or even eliminate human heritable genetic disease, but also carries genuine risks if not appropriately regulated and performed. It also raises fears in some quarters of apocalyptic scenarios of designer babies that could radically change human reproduction. Clinical need and the availability of alternatives are key considerations in the ensuing ethical debate. Writing from the perspective of a fertility clinic, we offer a realistic projection of the demand for GGE. We lay out a framework proposing that GGE, hereditary genetic disorders, and fertilization are fundamentally entwined concepts. We note that the need for GGE to cure heritable genetic disease is typically grossly overestimated, mainly due to the underappreciated role of preimplantation genetic testing. However, we might still find applications for GGE in the correction of chromosomal abnormalities in early embryos, but techniques for that purpose do not yet exist.
胚系基因组编辑（GGE）有可能减轻甚至消除人类遗传性疾病，但如果不进行适当的监管和实施，也会带来真正的风险。它还在某些方面引发了人们对设计婴儿的世界末日场景的担忧，这些婴儿可能会从根本上改变人类的生殖方式。临床需求和替代方案的可用性是随后的伦理辩论中的关键考虑因素。我们从生育诊所的角度出发，对 GGE 的需求进行了现实的预测。我们提出了一个框架，提出 GGE、遗传性遗传疾病和受精是根本交织在一起的概念。我们注意到，GGE 治愈遗传性疾病的需求通常被严重高估，主要是因为人们对胚胎植入前基因检测的作用认识不足。然而，我们仍然可以找到 GGE 在纠正早期胚胎染色体异常方面的应用，但目前还没有为此目的的技术。
