Repronews #39: Trump’s GOP to leave abortion to the states, vows to protect IVF
PhD women & IVF; >1.1 million European IVF cycles; genome sequencing improves cancer care; UN population prospects; Chinese twins & IQ; mutation for neuro-disorder; Musk’s plans to birth Martians
Welcome to the latest issue of Repronews! Highlights from this week’s edition:
Repro/genetics
Donald Trump’s Republican Party manifesto abandons anti-abortion amendment, supports IVF
PhD-educated women have a three times higher chance of achieving a live birth following IVF than those with only secondary education.
European clinics delivered 1.1 million IVF cycles in 2021, up from 0.9 million in 2020
British study shows routine genome sequencing improved care for children with cancer
Population Policies & Trends
UN report shows global population will shrink faster than expected, one fifth of countries covered (including China, Italy, South Korea, and Spain) have “ultra-low” fertility beneath 1.4 per woman.
Genetic Studies
Chinese identical twins raised apart have matching IQ scores
Scientists disover genetic cause of severe neurodevelopmental disorder with hundreds of thousands of cases
Further Learning
New York Times on Elon Musk’s plans to colonize Mars, including to birth people on Mars and breed new species
Repro/genetics
Trump’s GOP manifesto abandons anti-abortion amendment, supports IVF (WSJ)
The Republican Party has adopted a stripped-down 16-page platform ahead of the 2024 presidential elections which largely reflects Republican president candidate Donald Trump’s views.
The Republican platform no longer calls for a “human life amendment” banning abortion at the federal level, but instead the issue should be decided at state level.
The platform says Republicans “will oppose late term abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Polling currently suggests Trump will likely win the election to be held in November.
“PhD-educated women have 3 times higher IVF live birth rate” (PET)
Danish researchers presented data on differences in IVF success rates among women of different socioeconomic and educational levels at the 40th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
Women with a PhD in Denmark were shown to have a three times higher chance of live birth following IVF compared to those who had just completed secondary education, analysis of a cohort of 68,738 women showed.
Women with the highest level of income were also two times more likely to have a live birth after IVF than women in the lowest income bracket.
Lower education level, income, employment, and socioeconomic status were all associated with lower live birth rates following IVF.
Denmark offers citizens three cycles of IVF free of charge via its public health system, but socioeconomic status was found to influence whether women started a second or third cycle.
Authors said their granular analysis indicated that disparities in socioeconomic status and health outcomes were due to a range of factors besides financial ones.
Professor Nicky Hudson, of the Centre for Reproduction Research at De Montfort University, Leicester, said: “The research highlights the potential importance of the forms of social and cultural capital that patients might need in order to successfully navigate complex medical systems and especially treatments like IVF, which have a high burden on patients and do not have a straightforward care pathway.”
Another study presented at ESHRE this year showed that women who become
surrogates in Canada experienced poorer health during and after pregnancy than other women undergoing IVF. Becoming a surrogate was linked to lower socioeconomic status and higher risk of high blood pressure before becoming a gestational carrier, despite widespread calls to screen potential surrogates for pregnancy-associated risk factors.
“European clinics delivered over 1.1 million IVF cycles in 2021” (PET)
Over 1.1 million IVF cycles were carried out in Europe in 2021, according to data collected by ESHRE from over 37 countries.
The total number of fertility treatment cycles rose 20% from 2020, despite the restrictions on fertility treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 1,103,633 IVF treatment cycles were reported in 2021, up from 919,364 in 2020.
Pregnancy rates following IVF remained stable across Europe in 2021, despite a rise in the number of single embryo transfers taking place in clinics, following efforts to reduce the number of multiple births in fertility patients.
Lead author Dr Jesper Smeenk of Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg, the Netherlands, said: “The 25th ESHRE report on ART (assisted reproductive technology) and IUI (intrauterine insemination) shows a continuous increase of reported treatment numbers and medically assisted reproduction (MAR)-derived live births in Europe. Being already the largest data collection on MAR in Europe, continuous efforts to stimulate data collection and reporting strive for future quality control and completeness of the data and offer higher transparency and vigilance in the field of reproductive medicine.”
The proportion of singleton, twin, and triplet deliveries following fertility treatment was 90.4%, 9.5%, and 0.1% in 2021, respectively, compared to 88.9%, 10.9%, and 0.2% in 2020.
Around three quarters (148,194) of IUI treatments were done with the patient’s partner’s sperm and around one quarter (48,583) were performed with donor sperm.
“Routine whole genome sequencing improves child cancer care” (PET)
Routine whole genome sequencing can improve treatment options for children with cancer, according to a recent trial by the British National Health Service (NHS).
The research, conducted by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS trust, and Great Ormond Street Hospital, analyzed whole genome sequencing data from 281 English children with cancer. This data enhanced the immediate clinical care for 7% of children and provided “additional disease-relevant findings” in 29% of cases.
“Whole genome sequencing provides the gold-standard, most comprehensive, and cutting edge-view of cancer,” said Professor Sam Behjati, a senior author of the study. “What was once a research tool that the Sanger Institute started exploring over a decade ago, has now become a clinical test that I can offer to my patients.”
The study, published Nature Medicine, provides evidence for the clinical benefit of routine whole genome sequencing, both by replicating the findings from currently applied tests and identifying previously unknown features of childhood cancer that could inform treatment options.
Cancers that occur in children are very often driven by a tumor’s intrinsic genetic features. Whole genome sequencing should be able to identify all relevant features.
While being able to identify clinically relevant features of childhood cancer, the study was able to accurately reproduce results from every molecular test that is currently included in standard-of-care. This provides further evidence that whole genome sequencing can add valuable information beyond current best practices.
“Our research shows that whole genome sequencing delivers tangible benefits above existing test, providing better care for our patients,” said Dr. Jack Bartram.
“We hope this research really highlights why whole genome sequencing should be delivered as part of routing clinical care to all children with suspected cancer.”
Future work will likely focus on the implementation of whole genome sequencing in clinical practice. This will include the necessary turnaround time, which will vary depending on the specific cancer, as well as identifying centers who could benefit most from whole genome sequencing, such as those that do not currently employ standard testing.
The authors suggest that replacing the current array of tests with whole genome sequencing could lead to lower costs, especially as the price of sequencing is decreasing dramatically.
More on repro/genetics:
“China publishes ethical guidelines for human genome editing research” (Xinhua)
“First dedicated guidance for embryo model research published by experts” (PET)
“Event review: The ethics of engineering biology” (PET)
Population Policies & Trends
New UN report forecasts global population will shrink faster than expected (Financial Times)
The world is set to have 200 million fewer people than previously expected by 2100, according to a UN’s 2024 Revision of World Population Prospects.
The latest edition said the number of people would grow from 8.2 billion in 2024 to a maximum of around 10.3 billion in 2080.
“The demographic landscape has evolved greatly,” said Li Junhua, under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs at the UN. “In some countries, the birth rate is now even lower than previously anticipated, and we are also seeing slightly faster declines in some high-fertility regions.”
In more than half of all countries, the average number of live births per woman is already below 2.1, the level at which the population is stable. In nearly a fifth of all jurisdictions covered by the report—including China, Italy, South Korea and Spain—there are fewer than 1.4 live births per woman, a level described by the UN as “ultra low.”
Wolfgang Lutz, founding director of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital in Vienna, said the drop-off in fertility rates was “likely to have to do with value changes in the younger generation, for whom having children evidently is less important as a key dimension of a successful life than it was for previous generations.”
The UN reported that in 63 jurisdictions, containing 28% of the world’s population in 2024, including China, Germany and Japan, the size of the population peaked before 2024.
By 2100, Europe’s population is set to shrink by 21 per cent from its peak in 2020, marking the largest decline of any continent.
A shrinking working-age population and a higher proportion of older people will add pressure on public finances.
“The problem is that with fewer workers, you get less growth and less tax, and with more incapacitated old people, you need to provide more care, medicine and welfare,” said Charles Goodhart, professor at the London School of Economics. “If medicine and medical science cannot deal with the diseases of the old, we will have a lot of incapacitated old people with fewer young people to look after them, and it will become very difficult.”
The UN urged aging societies to use technology to improve productivity, boost life-long learning and create opportunities to extend working lives.
Genetic Studies
Chinese identical twins raised apart match IQ scores (Times of London)
A study has investigated the intelligence of identical twins who were split as a result of China’s historic one-child policy.
According to a study published on this rare group of separated identical twins, the genetic component of intelligence predominates. Even when raised in different households, in some cases different countries, identical twins converge on the same IQ scores and seem to do so more the older they get.
“As genetic factors kick in, the environment drops out,” said Nancy Segal of California State University. “So they become more alike with time.”
The study was published in Personality and Individual Differences.
Segal, who researches twins, came across the separated pairs from China after being approached by a mother. “She told me she’s looking for literature on how to raise one twin. I told her that doesn’t exist. Then she told me her story,” she said.
China’s one-child policy led to the abandonment of thousands of girls because boys were more highly prized. “Some families wanted to get rid of them,” said Segal. “So parents would give [them] up. And among these, thousands of baby girls who were abandoned there were twins.”
These twins were, in turn, separated. Parents from other countries looking to adopt them would often be assigned only one.
Segal has worked to track down both halves in 15 instances where identical twins were separated in this way, then used them to understand aspects of intelligence.
Twins are useful in behavioral research because they share DNA and usually share an upbringing. With identical twins, nature and nurture are the same; with non-identical twins, who share only half their DNA, nature is different. By comparing the two, researchers can tease out the genetic component of traits. In this case, though, the paradigm was reversed. Nurture was completely different but nature the same.
“The twins just are themselves and they tell you a whole story about human behaviour. They’re so well aligned in so many ways that they don’t even think about it,” Segal said.
The study fits with a growing body of research into the importance of the genetic component in intelligence — yet that does not make parenting pointless. “Should parents and educators throw their hands up in despair? Absolutely not,” said Segal. “Everybody can become smarter. But we’re not going to all be the same.”
“Scientists uncover genetic disorder that may affect thousands around world” (Guardian)
Researchers have found that a mutation in the RNU4-2 gene causes severe disabilities in children and adults. The condition could affect hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
The condition causes severe developmental delay and many of those diagnosed are unable to speak, are fed through a tube, and have seizures. The disorder produces characteristic facial features, such as large cupped ears, full cheeks, and a mouth with downturned corners.
“It’s not unusual to discover a neurodevelopmental disorder, but it is incredibly unusual to discover one that is this common,” said Nicola Whiffin, an associate professor at the Big Data Institute and Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford. “This is surprisingly frequent. There are a lot of questions as to why we haven’t seen this before.”
About 60% of people with a neurodevelopmental disorder remain undiagnosed after comprehensive genetic testing, leaving the underlying cause unknown.
A formal diagnosis can help patients and families by identifying the reason for the condition and connecting them with others to form support groups.
Most work aiming to uncover the genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders focuses on genes the body uses to make proteins.
After analyzing the complete genomes of nearly 9,000 people with undiagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders, an international collaboration led by Whiffin made a chance discovery: Dozens of the patients, all of whom were enrolled on the 100,000 Genomes Project, led by Genomics England and NHS England, had mutations in the same gene, RNU4-2, which is not used to make proteins.
“We know of hundreds of patients, but one of the key issues is that we are limited to making diagnoses in patients where we have their whole genome,” Whiffin said. Decoding patients’ entire genetic code is becoming common in Birtain and other developed countries.
Identifying the RNU4-2 diagnosis is an important first step towards a better understanding of the underlying biology of the condition and provides hope and a potential research path towards a therapy.
The study was published in Nature.
More on genetic studies:
“Alzheimer’s risk is strongly shaped by your mother’s side, study finds” (Science Alert)
“Ten risk loci for female genital tract polyps identified” (PET)
Further Learning
Birthing Martians and breeding new species: Inside Elon Musk’s plan to colonize Mars (New York Times)
For more than two decades, Elon Musk has focused SpaceX, his rocket company, on his lifelong goal of reaching Mars. Over the last year, he has also ramped up work on what will happen if he gets there.
Musk has directed SpaceX employees to drill into the design and details of a Martian city. One team is drawing up plans for small dome habitats, another is working on spacesuits to combat Mars’s hostile environment and a medical team is researching whether humans can have children there.
Musk has volunteered his sperm to help seed a colony.
The initiatives are a shift toward more concrete planning for life on Mars as Musk’s timeline has hastened. While he said in 2016 that it would take 40 to 100 years to have a self-sustaining civilization on the planet, Musk told SpaceX employees in April that he now expects one million people to be living there in about 20 years. “There’s high urgency to making life multi-planetary,” he said. “We’ve got to do it while civilization is so strong.”
NASA does not expect to land humans on Mars until the 2040s, discovering a barren terrain, icy temperatures, dust storms, and air that is impossible to breathe.
Musk once said he plans to die on Mars. His vision for Mars underlies most of the six companies that he leads or owns, each of which could potentially contribute to an extraterrestrial colony.
Musk is worth about $270 billion and has said he only accumulates assets to fund his plans for Mars. “It’s a way to get humanity to Mars, because establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars will require a lot of resources,” he said.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder who envisions humans living in giant space stations throughout the solar system.
Musk has been fascinated by Mars since reading Isaac Asimov’s 1951 science fiction novel Foundation when he was 10. In the book, the protagonist builds a colony across a galaxy to save humanity from the fall of an interstellar empire.
“They find a planet far away from the galactic center and try to preserve human knowledge and civilization there while the center of the galaxy kind of falls apart,” Musk said in a 2013 interview for a science video.
Scientists have not determined whether people can have children in space. Musk has said children won’t be allowed on the first flights to Mars because of the dangers, though he expects them to live there eventually.
In his 2013 interview for the science video, he said he hoped to create his own species on Mars, an idea that he has repeated over the years to SpaceX employees and others close to the company. “I think it’s quite likely that we’d want to bioengineer new organisms that are better suited to living on Mars,” he said. “Humanity’s kind of done that over time, by sort of selective breeding.”
In a 2022 podcast interview, Musk said he would tackle the planet’s icy temperatures with a series of thermonuclear explosions that would warm the planet by creating artificial suns.
One internal drawing obtained by the New York Times shows a family with young children standing in a dome neighborhood, gazing up at the stars.
To make the Mars colony self-sustaining, Musk plans to use Starship as sort of a Noah’s Ark, carrying plants and animals on the initial voyage. Residents would then build greenhouses on Mars to grow food.
SpaceX has partnered with Impossible Foods, the plant-based alternative meat company, to provide food in SpaceX’s cafeterias, but also to test the products as a possible protein source for Mars.
More on human nature, evolution, and biotech:
Evolution
“To explain biological sex, look to evolution” (Nature)
Biosecurity
Laboratory Biosecurity Guidance (WHO)
Health
“Progression of rare genetic condition halted by gene therapy” (PET)
“Kenya to release genetically modified mosquitoes to fight malaria” (Accra Times)
Plague may have begun wiping out Europeans long before Middle Ages (CIDRAP)
Agriculture
“EU’s food watchdog dismisses concerns over gene-edited crops proposal amid Council deadlock” (EurActiv)
Disclaimer: The Genetic Choice Project cannot fact-check the linked-to stories and studies, nor do the views expressed necessarily reflect our own.