Yangcheng Evening News reporter Chen Hui correspondent Peng Fuxiang Liang Jiayun

　　my country's first third-generation test-tube baby was born in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in 2000. What is the status of this test-tube baby after 20 years? On the 13th, the reporter connected with Ms. Zhong, the mother of the test tube baby who was "courage to eat crabs". She said that her daughter's growth process is very smooth, this year is already a sophomore.

Carrying a hemophilia gene

Helplessly choose test tube baby

　　A few days ago, Deng Mingfen, the head nurse of Zhongshan First Hospital Reproductive Medicine Center, went to Heyuan City to visit Ms. Zhong's family. Because of this visit, Ms. Zhong and her daughter talked about her birth for the first time. After hearing this, her daughter was not surprised. She said she vaguely felt that she had an unusual life experience when she was 7 years old.

　　Ms. Zhong and Mr. married in 1992 and gave birth to a baby boy in the second year after marriage. After the child was born, he often suffered from subcutaneous hemorrhage and joint hemorrhage. Later, due to cerebral hemorrhage, Ms. Zhong and her husband were heartbroken.

　　Five years later, in 1998, Ms. Zhong became pregnant again. During the prenatal examination, the amniotic fluid and cord blood examination revealed that Ms. Zhong was pregnant with a male fetus. Because the fetus, like her deceased brother, had a factor VIII defect, "hemophilia," she had to terminate her pregnancy. It turns out that Ms. Zhong is a carrier of hemophilia genes. According to genetic laws, the probability of having a baby boy to get hemophilia is 50%, 50% of birth daughters are carriers of the disease, and 50% are normal baby girls.

　　In desperation, Ms. Zhong heard about the third-generation IVF technique in Zhongshan First Hospital and went to seek medical treatment in August 1999. The staff of the center used pre-implantation genetic testing technology to take out Ms. Zhong’s 7 eggs, screened out two female embryos using fluorescence hybridization technology, and then put healthy embryos into Ms. Zhong’s womb. The baby girl was delivered in Zhongshan First Hospital on April 23, 2000 and weighed 7 kg.

　　"The days of test-tube babies were particularly hard. I departed from Heyuan to Guangzhou at 6 a.m. to return home at 9 p.m. The first embryo implantation failed and the second one was successful, but no matter how hard it was Worth it!" Ms. Zhong said.

The first domestic "design baby"

Born to "customize" my sister

　　In the 20 years since the birth of Ms. Zhong’s daughter, my country’s third-generation IVF technology has also continued to develop.

　　In June 2012, China's first "design baby" was also born in Zhongshan First Hospital. This is a further exploration of the third generation IVF technology.

　　This "designed baby" is named Pak She. Her birth was to save her 14-year-old sister with severe beta-thalassemia. It also marks China's success in "therapeutic IVF technology". Transplantation patients bring hope.

　　Zhou Canquan, deputy dean of Zhongshan First Hospital and leader of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, introduced that unlike other third-generation test-tube babies, the "design baby" embryos must not only ensure that the genes are normal and do not have thalassemia, but also ensure the HLA of the embryos. The type is consistent with the sick sister, so that the umbilical cord blood of the baby after birth can be used to treat the sister.

　　In 2016, the world's first "three-parent baby" was born in the United States, another new exploration of IVF technology.

　　According to reports, "three-parent baby" refers to the genetic composition of not only the genes of the parents, but also the "third parent" genes. If the gene on the mother's side is defective in mitochondria, the baby may suffer from various serious and even fatal syndromes after birth. Therefore, in the process of being a test-tube baby, doctors can use healthy mitochondria in the donor egg to replace the problematic mitochondria in the mother's egg to ensure the health of the baby after birth.

　　Zhou Canquan said that there are currently institutions in China that are currently exploring the technology of "three-parent baby".

　　【Explanation】

　　A Three-generation test tube is not "iterative update"

　　Since 2001, 3,105 third-generation IVF babies have been born in the Reproductive Center of Zhongshan First Hospital. What is the concept of the third generation IVF? Does it mean that the first and second generations can be eliminated? Zhou Canquan explained that the three generations of IVF babies are not updated iteratively, but provide help for different infertility people.

　　"First-generation" IVF is the process of removing sperm and egg in vitro and culturing for several days (usually 2-6 days), selecting a well-developed embryo and returning it to the mother's uterine cavity to continue to develop into a fetus. The scientific name is "in vitro fertilization" And embryo transfer technology". This technology mainly solves the problem of infertility caused by the fallopian tube of the woman.

　　"Second generation" IVF infants use micromanipulation techniques to inject a single sperm into an egg cell to fertilize it, and continue culturing for a few days in vitro, then select a well-developed embryo and put it back into the mother's uterine cavity. The scientific name is "oocyte cytoplasm" Single sperm injection technique". This technology mainly solves the problem of infertility caused by male oligospermia, azoospermia or various reasons of difficulty in fertilization.

　　"Third generation" test-tube babies use micromanipulation technology to remove one or several cells from embryos that are well-developed in vitro, and perform genetic diagnosis on the extracted cells using modern molecular gene technology to determine whether the embryo is suffering. A disease caused by a genetic or chromosomal abnormality from a parent’s inherited disease gene, and then an embryo without a genetic disease is selected and returned to the mother’s womb to continue development. This technology is called "pre-implantation genetic testing technology", in order to avoid giving birth to genetic diseases.

　　Professor Zhou Canquan said that the most clinically demanded in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer technology and intracytoplasmic sperm injection technology, and pre-implantation genetic testing technology is mainly to solve the problem of chromosome number and structure, as well as genetic inheritance The difficulty of the disease, the latter common are thalassemia, muscular dystrophy and so on.

　　B Test-tube babies cannot be "customized"

　　After the birth of "design baby", it has caused widespread public discussion. "Since the blood type and matching type can be customized, can I customize a baby with big eyes and a high nose bridge?"

　　Zhou Canquan said that he would not choose a certain feature without medical reasons, nor could he pass it ethically.

　　Now that cancer is so prevalent, certain cancers such as some breast and ovarian cancers have a clear family inheritance, and the related genes have also been determined. Can the third-generation IVF technology be used to select embryos that do not carry cancer-related genes and customize them? "Baby without cancer"?

　　"This is okay." Professor Zhou Canquan introduced that if parents carry a "high incidence and high lethality" gene, it means that if the baby carries this gene, the probability of suffering from a certain malignant disease during growth or adulthood is very high. In this case, a "pre-implantation gene detection technology for late-onset disease" can be used to screen out an embryo implant that does not carry the gene to ensure that the baby will not be troubled by this disease in the future.