Click to play videoNew Delhi: British medical experts have reported a medical breakthrough. The first cancer proof baby was born in the country. That means children are no longer at risk of inheriting their mother's cancerous genes, despite there being an 80 per cent chance usually.
The first baby girl in Britain to have been screened before conception for a genetic form of breast cancer was born on Friday.
Doctors at University College Hospital in London (UCL) had created a number of embryos through In-Vitro-Fertilisation (IVF) for the baby's parents and screened them for the cancer gene.
Women who carry this genetic variation have an 80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and her children are at very high risk of inheriting the gene.
"We just test the embryo when it is just a cluster of cells and select the embryo that does not carry this kind of genetic abnormality. The main advantage is that the child will not be at risk," said Paul Serhal, Medical Director of the Assisted Conception Unit at UCL.
The embryo was chosen using a Genetic Diagnosis which involves testing cells to see if they contain the faulty gene.
An embryo found free of the cancer gene was then implanted into the mother.
The technique has also been previously applied by British doctors to avoid the transmission of other cancers and diseases. The mother and baby girl, who have not been identified, are doing very well.
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