Key Highlights
- But what is polygenic screening and does it work?What kinds of tests can be performed on embryos in the UK?Fertility treatments are strictly regulated, with tests performed on embryos legally restricted to a list of serious health conditions.
- These include about 1,700 single-gene disorders, including Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell disease.
- Clinics can also test for aneuploidy – when an embryo has extra or missing chromosomes – which lowers the chance of a successful pregnancy or can lead to genetic conditions.
- Polygenic screening, or PGT-P, which aims to give predictive scores for health, height, IQ and other traits is not permitted. Why has this grey area emerged?As genetic sequencing has become quicker and cheaper, laboratories typically screen for aneuploidy (known as PGT-A testing) by generating a low-resolution genome sequence for each embryo.
- This sequence is not shared with IVF clinics – they only receive a readout of whether or not an embryo has any missing or extra chromosomes.
