4 ms·

This is such an incredible breakthrough and a huge win for science and families alike, however its sad that despite decades of work there is still no cure for m

by JLemay 1y ago

This is such an incredible breakthrough and a huge win for science and families alike, however its sad that despite decades of work there is still no cure for mitochondrial disease. But the chance to preventing it being passed on is still such a major improvement. Also it’s sad that only the uk is capable of doing this atm bc it was the first country in the world to introduce laws to allow their creation after a vote in Parliament in 2015, while other countries were debating that it would open the doors to genetically-modified "designer" babies

im3w1l 1y ago
Cells can exchange mitochondria so in theory it might be possible to flood the body with healthy mitochondria and get them to slowly take over.
- yorwba 1y ago
  I would expect that to activate the immune system. "the unique components of mitochondria, when exposed, reveal their prokaryotic history and are recognized as foreign by innate immune receptors triggering an inflammatory response." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6218307/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6218307/ Maybe if you suppress the immune system, introduce working mitochondria, and then stop taking the immunosuppressants, any mitochondria that are still outside cells get cleaned up and the ones that got absorbed are shielded and can do their job.
  - inglor_cz 1y ago
    Maybe we can find some way to deliver mitochondria right into the cells.
- dr_dshiv 1y ago
  Mitochondrial health is definitely going to be a big theme in the coming years.
- type0 1y ago
  > it might be possible to flood the body with healthy mitochondria and get them to slowly take over it's not possible, these are organelles that are too big to be taken up by your cells, unless you can magically teleport them somehow to each cell
FerretFred 1y ago
It is an incredible breakthrough and if it prevents disease then all well and good, but are our Administrative Systems set up to handle such an arrangement?
- maxerickson 1y ago
  Sure. The mitochondrial donor can be treated as a source of tissue and you are all done.
  - isodev 1y ago
    I really struggle why we keep maintaining some archaic definitions around the “family unit” anyway. So someone has 3 parents instead of 2 - nothing wrong with that.
    - drekipus 1y ago
      It's ok to not know why something is. My daughter doesn't know why we have archaic laws around seatbelts either, but she's 3.
      - progbits 1y ago
        This makes no sense. The seatbelt laws are not archaic by any meaning of the word, and they can be justified with rational arguments. Care to try doing the same for family thing? Aside from tradition.
        AYBABTME 1y ago
        It's not that hard to imagine a rational argument where humans have evolved to grow with one or two parents, leading to all sorts of psychological prewiring. (I'm not supporting the argument, just saying that it's not hard to come up with a plausible rational one)
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago
FL33TW00D 1y ago
The UK leads in this space as a previous PM had his newborn die of a genetic disease. Amazing the domino effect.
- Sammi 1y ago
  David Cameron a conservative ex PM. He's currently working in the genetic disease space: https://www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/news/former-uk-prime-minister-david-cameron-chairs-advisory-council-for-oxford-harrington-rare-disease-centre-ohc https://www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/news/former-uk-prime-minist...

by JLemay 1y ago

im3w1l 1y ago

Cells can exchange mitochondria so in theory it might be possible to flood the body with healthy mitochondria and get them to slowly take over.

yorwba 1y ago
I would expect that to activate the immune system. "the unique components of mitochondria, when exposed, reveal their prokaryotic history and are recognized as foreign by innate immune receptors triggering an inflammatory response." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6218307/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6218307/ Maybe if you suppress the immune system, introduce working mitochondria, and then stop taking the immunosuppressants, any mitochondria that are still outside cells get cleaned up and the ones that got absorbed are shielded and can do their job.
- inglor_cz 1y ago
  Maybe we can find some way to deliver mitochondria right into the cells.
dr_dshiv 1y ago
Mitochondrial health is definitely going to be a big theme in the coming years.
type0 1y ago
> it might be possible to flood the body with healthy mitochondria and get them to slowly take over it's not possible, these are organelles that are too big to be taken up by your cells, unless you can magically teleport them somehow to each cell

FerretFred 1y ago

It is an incredible breakthrough and if it prevents disease then all well and good, but are our Administrative Systems set up to handle such an arrangement?

maxerickson 1y ago
Sure. The mitochondrial donor can be treated as a source of tissue and you are all done.
- isodev 1y ago
  I really struggle why we keep maintaining some archaic definitions around the “family unit” anyway. So someone has 3 parents instead of 2 - nothing wrong with that.
  - drekipus 1y ago
    It's ok to not know why something is. My daughter doesn't know why we have archaic laws around seatbelts either, but she's 3.
    - progbits 1y ago
      This makes no sense. The seatbelt laws are not archaic by any meaning of the word, and they can be justified with rational arguments. Care to try doing the same for family thing? Aside from tradition.
      - AYBABTME 1y ago
        It's not that hard to imagine a rational argument where humans have evolved to grow with one or two parents, leading to all sorts of psychological prewiring. (I'm not supporting the argument, just saying that it's not hard to come up with a plausible rational one)
        JumpCrisscross 1y ago

FL33TW00D 1y ago

The UK leads in this space as a previous PM had his newborn die of a genetic disease. Amazing the domino effect.

Sammi 1y ago
David Cameron a conservative ex PM. He's currently working in the genetic disease space: https://www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/news/former-uk-prime-minister-david-cameron-chairs-advisory-council-for-oxford-harrington-rare-disease-centre-ohc https://www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk/news/former-uk-prime-minist...