A WOMAN is pregnant with the UK's first baby guaranteed to be free from hereditary breast cancer, it was reported last night.
Doctors screened out of embryos an inherited gene that would have left the baby with a high chance of developing the cancer.
The woman decided to undergo the treatment after members of her family tested positive for the gene and a history of the d
isease in her family.
The couple produced several embryos and selected two of those found to be free of the gene in the woman's womb. According to the report the woman is now over three months pregnant.
About 5% of the 44,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the UK each year are estimated to be caused by the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes. Doctors say thousands of cases of breast cancer could be avoided by screening embryos.
The 27-year-old British mother, who asked not to be named, told a newspaper: "For the past three generations, every single woman in my husband's family has had breast cancer, as early as 27 and 29. We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down.
"It has been successful for us which means we are eliminating the gene from our line."
The woman and her 28-year-old husband had to go through IVF even though they are fertile, in order to create embryos that could be screened.
The full article contains 259 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
