No designer babies, but summit calls for cautious research

WASHINGTON (AP) — A tool to edit human genes is nowhere near ready to use for pregnancy — but altering early embryos as part of careful laboratory research should be allowed as scientists and society continue to grapple with the ethical questions surrounding this revolutionary technology, organizers of an international summit concluded Thursday.

Tools to precisely edit genes inside living cells, especially a cheap and easy-to-use one called CRISP-Cas9, are transforming biology — and potential treatments created by them promise to do such things as cure sickle-cell anemia or fight HIV and cancer.

[...] depending on how it's used, it also could alter human heredity — maybe create "designer babies" — raising ethical questions that triggered three days of debate by scientists, policymakers and ethicists from 20 countries.

The summit's organizers endorsed treatment-related gene editing research, and said lab research on germline issues "is clearly needed and should proceed" with appropriate oversight as international debate continues.

Sangamo Biosciences is developing an HIV treatment — pulling immune cells from patients' blood, editing a gene that boosts resistance to the virus, and returning those cells.

Next year, Sangamo plans a clinical trial that takes a next step and injects a gene editing tool directly into the body, an attempt to target hemophilia B, a blood disorder.

"Even if gene editing becomes a useful strategy for HIV cure, the cost may make access to such treatments impossible for people living in low-resource countries," said Keymanthri Moodley of Stellenbosch University in South Africa.