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Shock Greets Claim of CRISPR-Edited Babies Apparent Germline Engineering by Chinese Researcher Prompts Outrage and Investigations

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Shock Greets Claim of CRISPR-Edited Babies Apparent Germline Engineering by Chinese Researcher Prompts Outrage and Investigations IN DEPTH Downloaded from BIOETHICS Shock greets claim of CRISPR-edited babies http://science.sciencemag.org/ Apparent germline engineering by Chinese researcher prompts outrage and investigations By Dennis Normile, in Hong Kong, China pears to have skipped the profound ethical and other gene-editing techniques as treat- debate that participants at the 2015 summit, ments for genetic diseases, such as muscular he idea that humanity can rewrite its and many meetings since, agreed should take dystrophy and sickle cell anemia. So far, clini- own genetic code long seemed the stuff place before such experiments began. (He did cal trials have only modified somatic cells— of a science fiction novel—and a pretty not responds to requests for an interview.) not sperm or eggs, the germ line. But He on December 30, 2020 scary one at that. But rapid advances Fueling the outcry was the fact that He altered the genome in early stage embryos, in techniques such as CRISPR have didn’t produce any data, let alone a paper, creating edits that may be heritable. Many made it possible, at least in principle, to back up his claim. The biologist was scientists and ethicists don’t rule out making Tto make precise changes to the genome of scheduled to speak at the International such changes to the germ line, but recent re- a human embryo that could help rid fami- Summit on Human Genome Editing here ports from the United States’s National Acad- lies of crippling genetic diseases—or lead to this week, but whether he would show up emies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine “designer” babies, gene edited to be smarter was unclear as Science went to press. Mean- and the United Kingdom’s Nuffield Council or more beautiful. A few years ago, at an while, the purported justification for He’s on Bioethics agreed they should only be un- international summit where scientists, ethi- study—to protect the two girls, named Lulu dertaken under “stringent conditions” and to cists, and policymakers pondered the conse- and Nana, from the AIDS virus, which uses address a serious unmet medical need. quences of editing human genomes, biologist CCR5 to infect cells—was almost immedi- He’s effort had no such justification, critics David Baltimore of the California Institute of ately dismissed as flawed by HIV experts. say. The team worked with embryos created Technology in Pasadena declared: “The un- Although He reportedly consulted with by in vitro fertilization (IVF) with sperm and thinkable has become conceivable. We’re on bioethicists, condemnation was swift and eggs from seven couples, He said. In each the cusp of a new era in human history.” widespread, even in China, where restrictions couple the man was infected with HIV, but Now, that era may have started— on such work are less clear-cut than in other the woman was not. The small percentage of suddenly, and in almost surreal fashion. On countries. He’s academic home, the Southern people who have a natural mutation in the 26 November, just before Baltimore opened a University of Science and Technology (SUST) CCR5 gene are resistant to HIV infection; by new summit on genome editing here, a little- in Shenzhen, China, has launched a probe disabling the gene in the embryos, He’s team known Chinese researcher named He Jiankui into the research, which it said may “seri- aimed to endow children with the same re- announced in an Associated Press (AP) inter- ously violate academic ethics and academic sistance. (Researchers have already used view and a series of YouTube videos that his norms.” National authorities have promised gene-editing techniques to cripple the gene team had engineered the DNA of twin baby investigations as well; the Chinese Society for for CCR5 in immune cells from HIV-positive girls born earlier this month to cripple a key Cell Biology called the research “a serious vio- adults and then infused the cells back into receptor, CCR5, on white blood cells, a modifi- lation of the Chinese government’s laws and the patients, as an experimental treatment.) cation they may pass on to their descendants. regulations and the consensus of the Chinese Preventing father-to-child transmission of The revelation shocked many scientists—one scientific community.” HIV was not the stated purpose of He’s work; called the work “monstrous”—because He ap- Scientists are exploring the use of CRISPR there is little risk of that, especially with IVF. IMAGES SCHIEFELBEIN/AP MARK PHOTO: 978 30 NOVEMBER 2018 • VOL 362 ISSUE 6418 sciencemag.org SCIENCE Published by AAAS NEWS He Jiankui says he genetically edited an immune gene PLANETARY SCIENCE in embryos, leading to the birth of healthy twin girls. He, noting pervasive discrimination against Safely settled, InSight gets HIV-positive people in China, told AP his goal was instead to protect the babies from possible infection later in life. (An informed ready to look inside Mars consent document for potential study volun- teers describes the work as “an AIDS vaccine Lander will deploy seismometer and heat probe to listen development project.”) for marsquakes and study the planet’s interior Many HIV scientists say He’s goal is a poor reason to subject embryos to the potential risks of CRISPR, which include “off-target” By Paul Voosen, in Pasadena, California in near–real time by Mars Cube One, a pair mutations that might lead to cancer. “There of briefcase-size spacecraft with experimen- are so many ways to adequately, efficiently, ver since Bruce Banerdt saw images tal radio antennas that rode to Mars along and definitively protect yourself against HIV of Mars’s surface as an intern here with InSight. During InSight’s 6-minute de- that the thought of editing the genes of an at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory scent, the duo worked flawlessly before coast- embryo … in my mind is unethical,” says (JPL) during the Viking landings of ing past the planet. “We were all pulling for Anthony Fauci, who heads the U.S. National the 1970s, he has wanted to know what them,” says Lori Glaze, NASA’s acting direc- Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in lies beneath. Now, his goal is within tor of planetary science in Washington, D.C. Downloaded from Bethesda, Maryland. Ereach, with this week’s arrival of NASA’s new- “They performed absolutely beautifully.” He received his Ph.D. at Rice University in est martian robot, the InSight lander, which The spacecraft hit its landing site, a vast Houston, Texas, where he published a paper carries instruments designed to probe the lava plain near the equator called Elysium with his adviser, Michael Deem—who is un- planet’s interior. “On some level, I’ve been Planitia, close to its bull’s-eye, says Tom der investigation by Rice for any role in the planning this for 30 years,” says Banerdt, a Hoffman, the project manager at JPL. NASA human embryo work—about CRISPR’s evo- planetary scientist at JPL and InSight’s prin- chose the tropical site for its abundant sun- http://science.sciencemag.org/ lution as a bacterial defense mechanism. He cipal investigator. light and apparent lack of rocks, which could later won a generous grant under the Thou- On 26 November, the lander’s fall from have upset the landing and made it hard to sand Talents Program to return to China, space to the surface made for a tense 6 min- deploy the instruments. InSight’s first im- where he obtained an associate professorship utes at JPL’s mission age, speckled by dust at SUST—although the university says he has control room. But the on the lens’s trans- been on unpaid leave since February. In vari- $814 million lander fol- parent cap, showed a ous talks, He has described his in vitro work lowed its script to the rusty plain, feature- on editing human genetic material. letter. As it plunged less aside from a rock But Robin Lovell-Badge of The Francis through the atmo- near the lander’s body. Crick Institute in London, a member of the sphere behind a heat “It does look like a on December 30, 2020 current summit’s organizing committee, shield, a hush fell over parking lot,” Hoffman says few if any were aware He was trying to the room during a brief, says. A second photo implant modified embryos. Where the stud- planned loss of contact. showed the team may ies were conducted is unclear; SUST said it Then came bursts of just have been lucky: wasn’t at a university lab. Lovell-Badge says applause, as commu- The terrain is rock- He is not disclosing the hospital involved to nications resumed and ier beyond InSight’s protect the family’s privacy. the lander relayed signs immediate vicinity. “We believe ethics are on our side of his- that it was slowing— The lander is de- tory,” He says in one video. Yet some scientists first as its parachute de- InSight’s first view, speckled by dust on a lens signed to reveal the say He has ignored the ethical concerns he ployed and then when cap, showed a mostly featureless plain. dimensions and com- and co-authors laid out in a paper this week its landing thrusters position of the planet’s in The CRISPR Journal, in which they wrote: fired. “Thirty meters. Twenty meters,” said crust, mantle, and core, details that could “Performing gene surgery is only permissible Christine Szalai, the JPL engineer narrating help scientists understand how planets lose when the risks of the procedure are out- its descent. “Touchdown confirmed.” The en- their magnetic fields or develop plate tecton- weighed by a serious medical need.” suing celebrations remained somewhat tem- ics.
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