首例免疫艾滋病基因编辑婴儿诞生 深圳启动伦理问题调查

就在第二届国际人类基因组编辑峰会召开前一天，一则消息震惊了学术界。据媒体报道，“世界首例免疫艾滋病的基因编辑婴儿”出生了。

11月26日，来自中国深圳的科学家贺建奎宣布，一对名为露露和娜娜的基因编辑婴儿于11月在中国健康诞生。这对双胞胎的一个基因经过修改，使她们出生后即能天然抵抗艾滋病，这是世界首例免疫艾滋病的基因编辑婴儿。然而消息发布后，引发了巨大的争议。国家卫健委表示将对此依法依规处理。

A Chinese scientist's attempt to produce the world's first gene-edited babies immune to HIV has sparked heated controversy among the public and academics.

中国一位科学家帮助一位母亲成功生下了世界首例免疫艾滋病基因编辑婴儿，此事在公众和学界引发了巨大的争议。

In an online video posted on Monday, He Jiankui, a biological researcher, announced that twin baby girls, Lulu and Nana, born healthy a few weeks ago, were conceived through in vitro fertilization(IVF) and genetically edited for immunity to HIV infection.

在本周一上传的一段网络视频中，生物学者贺建奎宣布，双胞胎女孩露露和娜娜几周前健康出生。这两名婴儿的基因经过了编辑，以使她们能够天然抵抗艾滋病。她们的母亲是通过试管婴儿技术怀孕生产的。

据悉，研究人员们在受精卵中，通过基因编辑技术，对CCR5基因进行了修改。CCR5基因是HIV病毒入侵人体所需的主要辅助受体之一。理论上，如果这个基因出现变异或缺失，就有可能关闭HIV病毒入侵人体的大门，也就是说，基因编辑后，婴儿能够天生免疫艾滋病。

"The mother started her pregnancy by regular IVF with one difference. Right after sending her husband's sperm into her eggs, we also sent in a little bit of protein and instructions for gene surgery," said He, from Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, speaking in the video. "Lulu and Nana were just a single cell when the surgery removed the doorway through which HIV enters to infect people."

来自广东省深圳市南方科技大学的贺建奎在视频中说：“孩子的母亲通过常规试管婴儿技术受孕，但有一点不同的是，在我们将丈夫的精子注入卵子后，还注射了一点点蛋白质和指引信号去做基因手术。在露露和娜娜还是单细胞的时候，通过手术关闭了艾滋病毒感染的大门。”

各方反应

深圳卫计委

The Shenzhen Health and Family Planning Commission said on Monday that it had not received any ethical assessment application for the study, which is a prerequisite for such experiments.

深圳卫计委本周一表示，并未收到有关该项目的伦理审查报备，而这是开展此类实验的先决条件。

The Associated Press reported on Monday that He sought and received approval for his project from the ethics committee of Shenzhen Harmonicare Women's and Children's Hospital, and an approval document from the hospital circulated online on Monday.

据美联社本周一报道，贺建奎得到了深圳和美妇儿科医院医学伦理委员会的批准，开展该项目。该医院的一份批准文件也被上传到网上。

深圳和美妇儿科医院总经理程珍介绍，这个实验不是在和美妇儿科医院做的，孩子也不是在和美妇儿科医院出生的，至于网上流传的那张申请书，医院也不了解情况，目前正在调查核实。

However, the Shenzhen commission said the hospital's ethics committee was not valid because the hospital did not register the committee's establishment with the commission as required.

然而，深圳卫计委表示，该医院的医学伦理委员会未按要求进行备案，因此不是合法机构。

The commission has started an ethics investigation and will release the results to the public, it said.

深圳卫计委已启动对该事件涉及伦理问题的调查，有关调查结果将及时向公众进行公布。

南方科技大学

Southern University of Science and Technology said on Monday that it was not aware of the research, as He did not report it to the school.

南方科技大学周一表示，贺建奎并未向学校报告这一项目，因此学校并不知情。

The university said the academic council of its biology department, where He works as an associate professor, thinks that the research seriously violated academic ethics and rules. The university said it would immediately set up an independent investigation team for the matter.

南方科技大学表示，生物系学术委员会认为这一研究严重违背了学术伦理和学术规范。南方科技大学将立即针对此事成立独立调查组。贺建奎曾在该校生物系担任副教授。

国家卫健委

国家卫健委对“基因编辑婴儿”事件高度重视，回应称立即要求广东省卫生健康委认真调查核实，本着对人民健康高度负责和科学原则，依法依规处理，并及时向社会公开结果。

Bai Hua, head of Baihualin, a nongovernmental organization that promotes the interests of people with HIV/AIDS, said on Monday that the parents of the twins were likely to have HIV.

白桦林全国联盟创始人“白桦”本周一称，双胞胎婴儿的父母可能患有艾滋病。这家非政府机构致力于推进艾滋病感染者的利益。

He Jiankui spoke with Bai in April 2017, hoping to find people with HIV for the research, Bai said, adding that he spread the news and about 200 showed interest.

贺建奎在2017年4月联系到该机构，希望寻找艾滋病感染者参与研究。“白桦”还说，他转发了这一消息，有大约200人表达了参与意愿。

"Of the group infected with HIV, many have special conditions such as inability to conceive naturally, but the reality is that they cannot have babies through IVF in hospitals," he said. "Many of them thought the research gave them a chance to have babies who do not have the risk of getting HIV."

他说：“在艾滋病感染者群体中，很多人有特殊情况，比如不能自然怀孕，但现实情况是他们无法在医院做试管婴儿。一些人认为这一研究给了他们生儿育女的机会，孩子也不会有感染艾滋病的风险。”

基因编辑婴儿引争议

基因编辑婴儿诞生的消息宣布后引来多方质疑，质疑的内容集中于该项研究涉及的伦理问题、必要性和安全性。

On Monday, more than 120 scholars from prestigious universities and institutes from China and abroad such as Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology strongly condemned the research in a signed statement, saying it lacks effective ethics oversight and amounts to human experiments.

本周一，超过120名来自国内外著名大学及机构的学者发布联合声明，强烈谴责这一研究，其中包括来自清华大学和麻省理工学院的一些学者。声明中称，该研究缺乏有效的伦理监管，相当于拿人类做实验。

In the statement published on weibo.com, they said any attempt to change human embryos with genetic editing and allow the birth of such babies entails a high degree of risk due to inaccuracies in existing editing technologies.

他们在发布在微博上的声明中说，由于目前基因编辑技术的不确定性，直接进行人胚胎改造并试图产生婴儿的任何尝试都存在巨大风险。

有专家表示，“基因编辑婴儿”的做法不仅仅是激进，更是冒失，CCR5的基因即使被敲除，也无法完全阻断艾滋病毒感染。从伦理上讲，在CCR5基因编辑不能保证100%安全的情况下，坚决不可以用于人体。

相关消息发布后，《科技日报》对此提出了四点疑问——

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "Genetic editing technology is far from mature and could have unforeseen consequences for the subjects."

中国疾控中心流行病学首席专家吴尊友说：“基因编辑技术远未成熟，对被试者可能产生的影响无法预见。”

Some researchers are trying to use genetic editing technology to treat people infected with HIV, so the virus will not replicate and be transmitted to others, he said. "Animal experiments should be done to assess gains and risks for the subjects, before the possibility of doing this with humans."

他说，一些研究人员正尝试使用基因编辑技术治疗艾滋病感染者，以使病毒不再复制和传染他人。他说：“类似的操作在考虑进行人体实验之前需要进行长期的动物实验，评估收益和风险。”

Some scientists in Hong Kong for the summit think it could induce serious problems for a person's immune system, while others think people should not be overly scared because it would not affect the core genome.

一些在香港参会的科学家认为，基因编辑可能使人体的免疫系统出现严重问题。还有些学者认为，人们也不必过度惊慌，因为这不会影响到核心的基因组。

Tsui Lap-chee, president of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, said if one gene is edited, it will affect others that interact with it. And the whole genome, a collection of genes, may also be affected.

香港科学院院长徐立之说，如果某个基因被编辑，将影响到与之相互作用的其他基因。那么整个基因组，一大批基因，都可能被影响。

Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader and head of the Division of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the Francis Crick Institute, said "gene editing is not something to be scared about", and he doesn't think what He has done will affect a human's core genome. Side effects may not be very serious as there are millions of healthy people with the exact same mutation.

峰会小组长、弗朗西斯·克里克研究所干细胞生物学和发育遗产学分部负责人罗宾-罗弗尔-巴杰说：“不必对基因编辑感到恐慌。”他并不认为贺建奎的研究将会影响到人类的核心基因组。基因编辑的副作用可能也没那么严重，因为有数百万健康人其实都携带有相同的基因突变。