Baby 'selected' without cancer gene (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Baby 'selected' without cancer gene

10:03pm Friday 9th January 2009

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Britain's first baby genetically selected to be free of a breast cancer gene has been born, doctors said.

Specialists from University College London spoke of their "absolute delight" after revealing the girl and her mother were in good health.

The baby grew from an embryo screened to ensure it did not contain the faulty BRCA1 gene, which passes the risk of breast cancer down generations.

Any daughter born with the gene has a 50% to 85% chance of developing breast cancer.

Announcing her birth, Paul Serhal, medical director of the Assisted Conception Unit at the hospital, said he was "absolutely delighted" at the breakthrough.

He said: "They are very well and we are very pleased.

"This little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life. The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter.

"The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."

In June, the mother, then 27, told how she decided to undergo the screening process after seeing all her husband's female relatives suffer the disease.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said at the time: "We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down."

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