美国国家公共电台 NPR Clinic Claims Success In Making Babies With 3 Parents' DNA

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A clinic in Ukraine has started making babies with DNA¹ from three different people. They're doing this to help infertile² women have children, but there are big concerns about so-called three-parent babies. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein went to Kiev to find out more. He is the first foreign journalist to be allowed inside the lab.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE³: As I set out to find this three-parent baby clinic, even my taxi driver has a hard time finding it. Turns out the Nadiya Clinic is tucked away in a little side street on the outskirts⁴ of downtown Kiev. Nadiya means hope in Ukrainian. Dr. Valery Zukin runs the clinic.

Dr. Zukin?

VALERY ZUKIN: Yes.

STEIN: Hi. I'm Rob Stein. Nice to meet you.

ZUKIN: Yes. Nice to meet you.

STEIN: Zukin takes me to his office to explain why he's doing something so controversial.

ZUKIN: The patients with infertility⁵ came in the infertile clinic, and the doctors, they could see that the embryo⁶ stopped development at a very early stage.

STEIN: So these are women who are trying to get pregnant, and they...

ZUKIN: They never - they could not achieve the pregnancy⁷, never.

STEIN: So Zukin decided⁸ to try something risky⁹, a technique using DNA from three different people that was invented to help women carrying devastating¹⁰ genetic¹¹ disorders¹² have healthy babies.

ZUKIN: If you could help these families to achieve their own babies, why would it must be forbidden?

STEIN: To show me how it's done, Zukin sends me upstairs to the clinic's embryo lab to meet the clinic's embryologist, Pavlo Mazur.

PAVLO MAZUR: Nice to meet you.

STEIN: Nice to meet you, too.

Mazur takes a clear plastic dish out of an incubator and slides it under a big microscope. I can see what he sees on a big monitor. A big, round bubble comes into focus on the screen.

So what's that?

MAZUR: That's a one-day embryo.

STEIN: That's a one-day embryo right there, yeah.

The procedure starts with an egg from the woman trying to have a baby that's been fertilized¹³ to make a 1-day-old, single cell embryo.

MAZUR: That's single cell with two nuclei¹⁴ inside it. You see? One, and two. One is from sperm¹⁵. It's paternal¹⁶. And the second one is maternal¹⁷.

STEIN: So that's the father's DNA and the mother's DNA. Right.

MAZUR: Right.

STEIN: A thin glass needle appears on the screen. Mazur slowly inserts the needle into the fertilized egg.

MAZUR: Very steady and slow.

STEIN: Why steady and slow?

MAZUR: We don't want to damage it, right? We want it to survive.

STEIN: He then uses the needle to extract the mother and father's DNA.

Wow. So that's - you just pulled out the DNA?

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: So that's the mother's DNA and the father's DNA?

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: And you just sucked it right out of there?

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: Mazur does the same thing with a second fertilized egg, removes almost all the DNA. But this one, it was created from another woman paid to donate eggs.

MAZUR: And now we will just try to put the genetic material of our patient inside.

STEIN: I see. So the other one's been emptied out, and it's waiting for the patient's DNA?

MAZUR: Correct.

STEIN: Mazur gently inserts the needle into the donor¹⁸'s healthy egg and injects the genes¹⁹ of the couple trying to have a baby.

MAZUR: So you see it's inside.

STEIN: So that's the mother and father's DNA inside the donor egg?

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: And it looks OK?

MAZUR: Yeah. It will develop into embryo.

STEIN: It worked?

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: Wow. It's almost like a DNA transplant.

MAZUR: Yeah.

STEIN: The clinic's mostly treating Ukrainian women but is marketing²⁰ this to women anywhere, charging those coming from other countries about $15,000. So far, the Nadiya Clinic doctors say, they've made four babies this way, and three more women are pregnant.

MAZUR: I adore that such technology exists. I adore that it can help some people.

STEIN: But these babies, they end up with a tiny bit of DNA left over from the woman who donated the egg. That DNA provides the egg's energy and may be what helps women finally get pregnant. That's why they're called three-parent babies. But Mazur says that label's wrong.

MAZUR: These babies, they have DNA from mother and from father. So they're genetically²¹ related to their parents, but a small, tiny part of DNA from donor. So it's incomparable. Your look, your hair color, your eyes color, your height, your weight and so on. These childrens are more like their parents, not donor.

STEIN: Some infertility doctors are welcoming this as a potentially exciting new option for some women. But critics are not.

MARCY DARNOVSKY: This is really an irresponsible kind of human experimentation²³.

STEIN: Marcy Darnovsky heads a genetics watchdog group called the Center for Genetics and Society. First of all, Darnovsky says, no one knows if this is safe.

DARNOVSKY: We just dont know whats going to happen to these children. This is pretty troubling.

STEIN: The procedure's banned in the United States. British doctors just started trying this, but only to prevent genetic diseases, and only one baby at a time as part of a tightly regulated research program. No one else is just selling it to treat infertility like the Ukrainian clinic. And that's not all, Darnovsky says.

DARNOVSKY: What we're seeing is a fast slide down a very slippery slope toward designer babies.

STEIN: That's because the DNA that's left over in the donated egg can be passed down by any girls to future generations. So Darnovsky worries this could open the door to making babies that are genetically modified for other reasons.

DARNOVSKY: Then we could see parents feeling eager to give their children traits like greater strength, need less sleep. Some people are saying that, yes, there are genes for IQ, and we can have smarter babies.

STEIN: Zukin says he's just trying to help desperate families have genetically related babies. And so far, he says, all the babies born this way appear to be perfectly²⁴ healthy.

ZUKIN: It is a dream to have a genetical²² connection with the baby.

STEIN: Zukin says he's teamed up with a clinic in New York to start offering this procedure to American women willing to travel to Ukraine. Rob Stein, NPR News, Kiev.

1 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

2 infertile   

adj.不孕的；不肥沃的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• Plants can't grow well in the infertile land.在贫瘠的土地上庄稼长不好。
• Nobody is willing to till this infertile land.这块薄田没有人愿意耕种。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

5 infertility   

n.不肥沃，不毛；不育

参考例句：

• It is the Geneva, Switzerland-based Biotech Company's second recombinant infertility drug. 它是瑞士生物技术公司在日内瓦的公司生产的第二种重组治疗不孕症的药。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术制药疫苗
• Endometritis is a cause of infertility. 子宫内膜炎是不育的原子。 来自辞典例句

6 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

7 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

11 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

12 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

14 nuclei   

n.核

参考例句：

• To free electrons, something has to make them whirl fast enough to break away from their nuclei. 为了释放电子，必须使电子高速旋转而足以摆脱原子核的束缚。
• Energy is released by the fission of atomic nuclei. 能量是由原子核分裂释放出来的。

15 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

16 paternal   

adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的

参考例句：

• I was brought up by my paternal aunt.我是姑姑扶养大的。
• My father wrote me a letter full of his paternal love for me.我父亲给我写了一封充满父爱的信。

17 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

18 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

19 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

20 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

21 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

22 genetical   

adj. 创始的(发生的, 遗传学的)

参考例句：

• In Jingyuan region, Quaternary system developed well, and zoned clearly, and there are complex genetical types. 靖远地区第四系发良良好，分带性明显，成因类型较为复杂。

23 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

24 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。