By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - Eight babies have been born in the UK using a revolutionary fertility technique that combines DNA from three people, offering a lifeline to families affected by devastating mitochondrial diseases.
Doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre confirmed the births, marking the first time this pioneering science—developed more than a decade ago in the UK—has led to healthy children delivered free from inherited, incurable mitochondrial conditions.
The therapy, often called "three-person IVF", combines the egg and sperm from the biological parents with healthy mitochondrial DNA from a female donor.
The resulting embryo carries more than 99.9% of the genetic material from the mother and father, with just 0.1% contributed by the donor.
That tiny fraction is enough to prevent the inheritance of faulty mitochondria—structures within cells that act as microscopic power stations, converting food into the energy our bodies rely on.
“Mitochondria are tiny structures inside nearly every one of our cells. They are the reason we breathe as they use oxygen to convert food into the form of energy our bodies use as fuel,” doctors explained.
Defective mitochondria can leave the body dangerously short of energy, causing severe disabilities, seizures, blindness, heart failure, and—in many cases—death in infancy.
The conditions are passed exclusively from mother to child and affect around one in every 5,000 births.
The method has been legal in the UK since 2015, when the country became the first in the world to formally approve its use.
However, strict regulation has meant the practice has been cautiously introduced and offered only in cases where the risk of mitochondrial disease is considered high.
The team in Newcastle expects demand for the procedure to grow, with up to 30 babies a year potentially benefiting.
Children born through the process will also pass on the donor’s healthy mitochondria to future generations—a fundamental, heritable shift that has sparked debate around the ethics and long-term implications of modifying the human germline.