A final scientific review has given a green light for British doctors to carry out mitochondrial replacement, which creates babies with DNA from three people in order to avoid genetic disease.

一项最终科学审查为英国医生进行线粒体置换开了绿灯，线粒体置换会诞生拥有3个人的DNA的婴儿，目的是避免基因疾病。

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the UK regulator, commissioned the review to assess new research on the safety of mitochondrial therapy that has been published since Parliament legalised the technique last year.

英国监管机构人类生育和胚胎学管理局(Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, HFEA)委托了这次审查，以评估英国议会去年将这项技术合法化后发表的有关线粒体疗法安全性的新研究。

Although some potential hazards were identified, the review panel found that the risks were not great enough to stop the HFEA implementing the legislation.

尽管发现了一些潜在的危害，审查小组认为，这些风险还不足以阻止HFEA实施立法。

It recommended approval of mitochondrial therapy for cautious use in specific circumstances.

审查小组建议，批准线粒体疗法在特定情况下谨慎使用。

Andy Greenfield, panel chair, said this approach strikes the right balance between offering access to this exciting new treatment to couples at real risk of having a . . . child with mitochondrial disease, while doing all we can to ensure that the treatment is safe and effective.

审查小组主席安迪.格林菲尔德(Andy Greenfield)表示，这种做法在两者之间达到了正确的平衡：一边是为那些真正面临风险，可能生下一个……患有线粒体疾病的孩子的夫妇提供使用这种令人兴奋的新疗法的机会，一边是尽我们所能确保疗法安全有效。

The HFEA will meet on December 15 to consider the report.

HFEA将在12月15日开会审议这份报告。

If it accepts the scientific recommendations, as expected, and invites applications to carry out mitochondrial replacement, these might be approved in time for treatment to begin in the spring.

如果该局如预期一般接受了这些科学建议，并且邀请有关方面提出进行线粒体置换的申请，这些申请可能得到及时批准，治疗便可在明年春天开始。

Then, Britain’s first three-parent babies — as they are called in the media but not in the scientific world — could be born in 2018.

此后，英国的第一个三亲婴儿——这是媒体的叫法，科学界并不这么说——或将在2018年出生。

We expect the first applications to come from Newcastle University, where they have huge experience looking after patients with mitochondrial disease, said Frances Flinter, professor of clinical genetics at King’s College London and a member of the review panel.

我们预计纽卡斯尔大学(Newcastle University)将成为首批申请者之一，这所大学在照顾线粒体疾病患者方面拥有丰富经验，审查小组成员、伦敦国王学院(King’s College London)临床遗传学教授弗朗西丝.弗林特(Frances Flinter)表示。

This is obviously great news, said Professor Doug Turnbull, who leads Newcastle’s mitochondrial programme.

这显然是个好消息，纽卡斯尔大学线粒体项目负责人道格.特恩布尔(Doug Turnbull)教授说，

This gives women who have mitochondrial DNA mutations reproductive choice.

这给了那些线粒体DNA发生突变的女性生育的选择。

Living cells depend on mitochondria to provide energy for every biological activity.

活细胞依赖线粒体为每一种生物活动提供能量。

These microscopic power packs have their own DNA, separate from the main genome in the cellular nucleus, and genetic defects can cause a wide range of medical problems from muscle weakness to heart failure and brain disease.

这些微观的能量组拥有不同于细胞核中主基因组的自身的DNA，线粒体基因缺陷可能导致从肌肉无力、心衰竭到脑部疾病等多种疾病。

Treatment involves an IVF procedure in which the mother’s faulty mitochondria are replaced with healthy ones from an egg donor.

线粒体治疗包含体外受精过程，用卵子捐献者的健康线粒体替换母亲有缺陷的线粒体。

These donated mitochondrial genes represent only a tiny fraction of the maternal contribution to the resulting baby’s DNA but they mean that its genetic inheritance comes from two women and one man.

在婴儿的DNA中，捐献的线粒体的基因在母方基因中的比例非常微小，但这意味着婴儿的基因传承将来自两名女性和一名男性。

Among the new scientific evidence considered by the HFEA review was a puzzling paper published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, which suggested that transplantation might occasionally fail to eliminate faulty mitochondria.

审查考虑的新科学证据包括本周三《自然》(Nature)杂志在线发表的一份令人困惑的论文，该文认为，移植有时可能无法完全去除缺陷线粒体。

But the panel concluded that this was unlikely to pose a serious threat in practice.

但审查小组的结论是，在实践中这不太可能构成严重威胁。

The review also found that an alternative approach — screening IVF embryos for mitochondrial abnormalities before implantation — was not a sufficiently reliable way to prevent mitochondrial disease.

审查还发现，替代办法——在将体外受精胚胎植入母体前筛查线粒体异常——作为预防线粒体疾病的方法不够可靠。

At least one three-parent baby already exists.

世界上至少已经存在一名三亲婴儿。

A healthy boy was born earlier this year following mitochondrial treatment in Mexico where there is no legislation covering the technique.

今年早些时候，一个团队在没有关于这项技术的立法的墨西哥使用线粒体疗法让一个健康的男婴出生。

This famous Mexican baby seems OK but we don’t have enough details really to comment, said Robin Lovell-Badge of the Crick Institute in London, another member of the HFEA panel.

这个著名的墨西哥婴儿似乎状态良好，但我们确实没有掌握足够的细节发表评论，审查小组成员、伦敦弗朗西斯.克里克研究所(Francis Crick Institute)的罗宾.洛弗尔-巴杰(Robin Lovell-Badge)说。