Genesis Fertility Clinic Blog
searching: “huntington's disease”
August 7, 2009
Eliminating Disease
Eliminating disease… that’s a lofty goal. There are a few diseases we can potentially eliminate in families, though, using an IVF technology called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). Huntington’s Disease is an example. At an international Huntington’s Disease Research meeting this year we are presenting our experience (one of the largest in Canada) in using PGD to eliminate Huntington’s Disease from families.
PGD involves a couple with a known genetic disease going through IVF to create embryos. Embryos are made up of cells and we remove one of the embryo’s cells and test for the defective gene, e.g. that causes Huntington’s Disease. If the embryo does NOT have the gene we put it back into the women’s uterus. If she conceives from the embryo placement the child will not have that genetic disease.
You can imagine how significant this is for families who suffer with a terrible disease they they risk passing on to their children. They can undergo PGD and if they conceive remove that disease from their family.
So far PGD works only for diseases caused by a single abnormal gene. Diseases like diabetes, autism, heart disease, etc. are thought to be caused by many genes interacting with the environment so, for now, PGD can’t eliminate those diseases from families. One day I believe they will… one day.
Dr. Beth Taylor, MD, FRCSC
Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility