Chinese Scientist Reportedly Creates Genetically Engineered Babies Immune to HIV

A Chinese team claims to have used CRISPR to make two infants that are resistant to HIV infection.

According to He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, his team used CRISPR to edit the genes of human embryos that eventually became twin girls Lulu and Nana. The change to the twins’ CCR5 gene causes their cells to carry a mutated form of the CCR5 protein. This mutation should protect them from HIV infection.

Chinese Scientist Reportedly Creates Genetically Engineered Babies Immune to HIV



Now you know others must take the same route because you can't have one group of folks with the only hotness in the new tech field of genetically modified human embryos. If these guys are forthright about it, then I know others are doing the same thing behind closed doors, because people.

Designer traits.. eye color, different iris, maybe even fur (for the furries of course). These two twins mentioned in the article and video are HIV resistant. The field of possibilities is damn near endless. What else is there? Denser muscle tissue for more muscular strength, a snip here or there to make people resistant to allergic reactions like asthma, longer arms, smarter kids , telepathic powers (haha, no) who knows. However.

There are seriously ethical and moral implications here, something like this shouldn't have been approved without the proper steps being taken prior, mostly global insight and oversight, i mean **it! It all good but there's a chance that these kids have a significantly increase chance of cancer, yikes! Not to mention what the ramifications are to their long term health. What's the point if one of your bodies systems doesn't work correctly because something went wrong while you was "baking in the oven"



Also, gizmodo.com... -of-crispr-gene-1827692218.

China has pushed us past the rubicon. For better or for worse.

This is something i thought the ATS community should keep on the radar...

I have seen a couple other threads on designer babies in the last few days.
I have not read them, as it is beyond my scope of expertise.

This specific claim is new to me.

I thought one had to understand and know the how to combat HIV, before they could genetically modify someone to be immune from it?

Forgive me if I sound insensitive. I hope it is true.
And I fear how it will be tested.

We spend 770 billion dollars on the US military and the Chinese cure AIDS.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
We spend 770 billion dollars on the US military and the Chinese cure AIDS.

No they have not. They have just claimed it.

Some Europeans are immune to HIV

Genes are so racist


www.eurekalert.org...

a reply to: dfnj2015

Who cured AIDS?

Chinese researcher behind genetically edited babies is now under investigation and suspended without pay

This is gonna get buried fast

China's state-run People's Daily published an online article about it on Monday but later removed the story.

More than 120 Chinese scientists signed a letter condemning the claim by He.

"The project completely ignored the principles of biomedical ethics, conducting experiments on humans without proving it's safe," said Qiu Zilong, a neuroscience researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学) in Shanghai who wrote the letter.

"We can only describe such behaviour as crazy."

That guy may not be among us very soon.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
We spend 770 billion dollars on the US military and the Chinese cure AIDS.

No they didn't. They claim to have made a way to make babies who are genetically resistant, just like we have crops of plants that are GMO to be resistant to certain pests or plant diseases.

First thing is that being resistant isn't quite being immune, it just means it's very, very hard for you to get it. And second, just because they can supposedly engineer babies who are resistant doesn't mean a thing for everyone else, including those who currently are HIV positive.

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
Some Europeans are immune to HIV

Genes are so racist


www.eurekalert.org...

In every population, there will always be a certain percentage who are naturally immune. It's one of the safeguards of biodiversity. Sure a nasty virus or bacteria may come along and wipe a lot of us (or any organism) out, but there will always be those few who survive because they're naturally either immune or resistant, and the resulting descendants will carry those traits forward.

One of the problems of genetic engineering is that it will cull out a lot of our biodiversity. You see it in animals we have selectively bred or animals that are bottle-necked like cheetahs. They have an increased incidence of genetic problems, and they are more susceptible to illness across their population.

a reply to: cenpuppie

Well, it may not be true, it seems...

Chinese scientist claims world's first gene-edited babies, amid denial from hospital and international outcry



The only person saying he achieved this is He Jiankui himself, even the hospital he claims he carried this out is denying it

And if it did happen, reports suggest that by raising the twins HIV Resistance it makes them more susceptible to flu and other illnesses. Not sure this would be a good idea, flu can kill, if they're more susceptible to it, surely their risk of serious flu increases

a reply to: cenpuppie

If they can still carry the HIV then they could make the perfect sex weapon once they reach adulthood.

I thinking through, if we can create genetically engineer babies immune to HIV, then we can probably devise an antiviral agent that facilitates the rest of the human race also.

originally posted by: andy06shake
I thinking through, if we can create genetically engineer babies immune to HIV, then we can probably devise an antiviral agent that facilitates the rest of the human race also.

Maybe but it's not obvious how that could be done.

My limited understanding is that on people without this mutation, the cell has something equavelnt to a lock and the HIV has the equivalent of a key to let itself in and invade the body's cells. Once in, it can be treated to stunt its growth, which drugs can already do, but we don't know how to eradicate it.

For a person with this genetic mutation, it's like the locks have been changed and the key that HIV has simply doesn't work, so it can't get in. I don't know how that genetic protection could be achieved with other means.

I wonder how they will find out how good this resistance is. They need a sample size a lot bigger than two to test it, even if the girls intentionally are exposed to HIV which I hope they aren't.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Well by the time the poor wee souls do reach adulthood, i image we will also have devised the means to somewhat change the locks where cellular modification of our own bodies are concerned, that's if we have not already done so in via some off the shelf technology and black budget underground medical facility somewhere on the planet.

You know where this is headed, right...?