Human Eggs Screened for Alzheimer’s

In what is believed to be a medical first, a woman with a gene that is all but certain to cause Alzheimer’s by her 40s gave birth to a baby free of the defect after having her eggs screened and selected in the laboratory.

The child’s mother, whose name was not released, now 33 and a health-care professional in Texas, had tested positive for the rare genetic mutation.

She opted to use a new technique, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, to prevent bearing a child with the mutation. There is no similar test for the more typical form of Alzheimer’s, which strikes the elderly.

The baby was born healthy 18 months ago, without the mutated gene for Alzheimer’s. The mother is now pregnant with twins, also created with the help of the screening technique.

The case is published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Assn.