Three-parent IVF shows reversion in multiple births — SkimNews
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- Shoukhrat Mitalipov's team identified 'reversion' in human embryos — where defective maternal mitochondria resurge after mitochondrial replacement — and published findings in 2016 showing it could occur in roughly 15% of cases
- Newcastle University reported in 2023 that three of eight children born via pronuclear transfer showed low-level reversion, with maternal mitochondrial DNA present at 5% to 16%
- Nuno Costa-Borges and Shoukhrat Mitalipov conducted a 2023 study in Greece involving 25 women under 40 with prior IVF failures, resulting in seven births — two of whom carried high levels of maternal mitochondrial DNA (51% and 35%)
- Valery Zukin and Pavlo Mazur of the Nadiya Clinic in Ukraine found reversion in two of six tested children, one with up to 72% maternal mitochondrial DNA, despite using the technique for infertility treatment
- Bert Smeets chairs the oversight committee approving MRT applications in the U.K. and supports a staged research approach to study MRT’s potential for treating infertility while minimizing risks
- Guido Pennings argues that MRT should be tested only in controlled infertility trials to better understand reversion and mitochondrial-nuclear mismatch risks, rather than for disease prevention
- Esther Braun proposed in 2024 that U.K. and Australian laws should allow clinical trials of MRT for infertility, citing both underappreciated risks in disease prevention and the ethical weight of involuntary childlessness
Why it matters: Regulators in the U.K. and Australia are moving forward with MRT for mitochondrial disease prevention, but evidence of reversion in multiple clinics suggests the technique may fail to protect children as intended. Allowing trials for infertility could generate critical safety data, but expanding use without controls risks normalizing a procedure with unresolved genetic risks.
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