Hadassah breaks chain of BRCA mutation
(cz) A 38-year-old Jerusalemite whose cells carry defective BRCA2 genes is apparently the first woman in the world in an advanced state of pregnancy with fetuses that were screened for the mutation as three-day-old embryos and selected for implantation when shown to be healthy.
Without the screening, the significantly higher risks for breast and ovarian cancer in females and slightly higher risk of prostate and breast cancer in males could have produced a malignant tumor in her children after they reached adulthood.
The breakthrough in-vitro fertilization plus pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) of fraternal twins - performed at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem - offers hope to many defective-gene carrier couples around the world of having children free of their mutation.
The woman, who is due to deliver a healthy daughter and son in 13 weeks, had to undergo IVF in any case because of “mechanical infertility” in which her husband’s sperm could not pass through the Fallopian tubes into her uterus. more…
From: »The Jerusalem Post«