CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

MARTIN ŠOLC CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ means justified by its potential benefits consisting in partial prevention against a potential HIV infection later in life. Furthermore, delta 32 variant of CCR5 is known to be connected with lower efficacy of the immune response to specific disease including influenza. 27 The doubtful risk-benefit ratio of He Jiankui’s experiment is true even after a 2019 study which seemed to suggest that people with delta 32 variant in both copies of CCR5 are more prone to premature mortality was retracted because its results were not reliable. 28 None of the girls was born with delta 32 variant of CCR5: their mutations are similar to it but not exactly the same and they are not known in nature. Instead, one of them has certain mutations in both copies of her CCR5 gene; the other twin only carries a mutation on one copy of the gene, 29 providing her with weaker HIV immunity 30 . In light of uncertainty about the precise health consequences of these mutations, it may be difficult to decide which of the twins is luckier. The announcement of the birth of the twin girls kindled a vivid reaction. The experiment was immediately subjected to harsh criticism from many institutions, scientists, and ethicists from all over the world 31 . Among other highly critical reactions, it was called “a failure of self-regulation by the scientific community” by the Nobel Prize laureate David Baltimore of California Institute of Technology 32 . The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. government agency for medical research, condemned the experiment as irresponsible and stressed “the need for development of binding international consensus on setting limits for this Ard, SAAG, Mike, LAMPE, Fiona, HERNANDO, Vicky, MONTERO, Marta, ZANGERLE, Robert, JUSTICE, Amy C., STERLING, Timothy, INGLE, Suzanne M., STERNE, Jonathan A. C. Survival of HIV- positive patients starting antiretroviral therapy between 1996 and 2013: a collaborative analysis of cohort studies. The Lancet HIV. (2017, Vol. 4, No. 8), pp. 349-356. 27 See for example FALCON, A., CUEVAS, M. T., RODRIGUEZ-FRANDSEN, A., REYES, N., POZO, F., MORENO, S., LEDESMA, J., MARTÍNEZ-ALARCÓN, J., NIETO, A., CASAS, I. CCR5 deficiency predisposes to fatal outcome in influenza virus infection. Journal of General Virology . (2015, Vol. 96, No. 8), pp. 2074-2078. 28 See MAKOWSKI, Emily. Error in Study Linking HIV Resistance Gene to Increased Mortality. The Scientist. (30 September 2019.) accessed 26 November 2019. 29 See BEGLEY, Sharon. He Jiankui tried to protect “CRISPR babies” against HIV. But his attempted fix shortens lives, study shows. STAT. (3 June 2019.) accessed 3 June 2019. 30 See for example ZAYNER, Josiah. The Science Behind the CRISPR Babies Lulu and Nana. The Antisense. (18 December 2018.) (25 November 2018.) accessed 1 June 2019. 31 See for example CYRANOSKI, David, LEDFORD, Heidi. Genome-edited baby claim provokes international outcry. Nature News. (26 November 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019, KRIMSKY, Sheldon. Ten ways in which He Jiankui violated ethics. Nature Biotechnology . (2019, Vol. 37), pp. 19-20, ZIMMER, Katarina. CRISPR Scientists Slam Methods Used on Gene-Edited Babies. The Scientist. (4 December 2018.) accessed 3 June 2019, or KNOEPFLER, Paul. Why CRISPR baby production (if it happened) was unethical & dangerous. The Niche. Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog. (26 November 2018.) accessed 30 May 2019. 32 See MARX, Vivien. A rocky road for the maturation of embryo-editing methods. Nature Methods. (2019, Vol. 16), pp. 147-150.

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