The article by Gina Kolata discussed how the popularity has increased for genetic testing of embryos has become in prospective parents. The genetic testing of these embryos have been existent for more than a decade, and over this time has dramatically improved in discovering disease-causing genes. The popularity grew because there are more and more couples wanting to ensure that their genetic deficits are not passed on and inherited in their offspring, and to also potentially avoid the future decision of having to abort a pregnancy due to genetic disease difficulties that they may have in the future. The procedure of genetic testing of the embryo has also caused an increased concern in society of whether it would be considered ethical to have prospective parents choosing to keep or discard embryos based on the test results. The reason there could be an unethical outlook on this would be because some diseases that are detected in this test may only be present due to a potential risk, but not actually result in the complete inheritance of the disease itself. Currently, the United States does not have regulations on the limit of the methods of the genetic testing of embryos, and as of present day is said to be ethically justified to aid in prevention of adult diseases that are considered and categorized as severe where there are no cures or interventions available to cure. The procedure costs roughly around $20,000 and most health insurance companies do not cover the genetic analysis, so the expenses are then required to be paid out of pocket by the individuals who desire the procedure to be done. The article discussed a particular couple who went through with the procedure and explained their experience. The woman discussed with her doctors that she had a rare neurological disease history present in her family for generations, and to take extra precautions she and her husband chose to do the in vitro fertilization, and tested for the embryos of the disease-causing gene. They then chose to only implant the embryos without the disease gene, and now are parents to three children without the disease-causing gene. This is just one of the many scenarios where a family is able to live without fear of their children and the future generation being at risk from a potential life time of battling a genetic disease.
Related Article: http://www.pennmedicine.org/fertility/patient/clinical-services/pgd-preimplantation-genetic-diagnosis/
Here's an article that talks about a group of scientist that used a fluorescent protein that allows them to watch the embryo grow. What's special about this fluorescent is that it will allow the scientist to watch the cell develop and hopefully one day be able to see where defective and mutated genes are located while the embryo is just beginning to grow.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/fluorescent-embryos-could-unlock-secrets-development