Journal article
Heritable polygenic editing: the next frontier in genomic medicine?
- Abstract:
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Polygenic genome editing in human embryos and germ cells is predicted to become feasible in the next three decades. Several recent books and academic papers have outlined the ethical concerns raised by germline genome editing and the opportunities that it may present1,2,3. To date, no attempts have been made to predict the consequences of altering specific variants associated with polygenic diseases. In this Analysis, we show that polygenic genome editing could theoretically yield extreme reductions in disease susceptibility. For example, editing a relatively small number of genomic variants could make a substantial difference to an individual’s risk of developing coronary artery disease, Alzheimer’s disease, major depressive disorder, diabetes and schizophrenia. Similarly, large changes in risk factors, such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure, could, in theory, be achieved by polygenic editing. Although heritable polygenic editing (HPE) is still speculative, we completed calculations to discuss the underlying ethical issues. Our modelling demonstrates how the putatively positive consequences of gene editing at an individual level may deepen health inequalities. Further, as single or multiple gene variants can increase the risk of some diseases while decreasing that of others, HPE raises ethical challenges related to pleiotropy and genetic diversity. We conclude by arguing for a collectivist perspective on the ethical issues raised by HPE, which accounts for its effects on individuals, their families, communities and society4.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Corrected version of record, pdf, 1.5MB, Terms of use)
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(Supplementary materials, zip, 2.6MB, Terms of use)
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(Preview, Other, pdf, 622.6KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41586-024-08300-4
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/029chgv08
- Grant:
- 226801/Z/22/Z
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Nature More from this journal
- Volume:
- 637
- Issue:
- 8046
- Pages:
- 637-645
- Publication date:
- 2025-01-08
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-10-29
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1476-4687
- ISSN:
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0028-0836
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2078469
- Local pid:
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pubs:2078469
- Deposit date:
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2025-01-14
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Visscher et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © 2025, The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Notes:
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For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08904-4
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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