Abstract
Vol.36 No.2
- « prev
- ↑Table of Contents
- next »
Mitochondrial replacement therapy for germline gene therapy and its potential application in ART
JMOR, 36(2) 85-90, 2019
Transferring nuclear material between oocytes from unrelated females offers the opportunity to exchange not only nuclear genetic materials but also their cytoplasm. Cytoplasm of the mammalian oocyte contains large amounts of mitochondria/mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that is maternally inherited and only passes down from mother to child through the egg. For this unique feature of mitochondrial inheritance, it would be feasible to replace mitochondria/mtDNA with donor cytoplasm if there was a reliable technology to allow efficient transfer of only nuclear material in eggs or in early embryos, which is called Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT). In this regard, several MRT techniques are now considered to be germline gene therapy for inherited mitochondrial diseases in the U.K., and the worldʼs first clinical trial is underway. In this article, we described utilization of MRT as for germline gene therapy for inherited mitochondrial diseases and also discuss its potential applications in standard ART practice.
