(AGI) – Madrid, Oct. 14 – His brother has a rare hereditary disease, beta-thalassaemia major: Javier, 3 kilos and 400 grams at birth, was genetically engineered to cure him. Javier was born on Sunday morning at the Virgen del Rocio hospital in Seville “with the hope of being able to give his brother Andres, the possibility to live”, announced the Spanish Health Service, in a note. According to doctors, the blood in his umbilical cord will be used in a bone marrow transplant for his brother, so the boy will be able to start producing healthy red blood cells. “The possibility of healing the boy after the transplant is very high”, said the doctors. Until the operation takes place, a date that has not yet been made public, the precious blood will remain in the Umbilical Cord Bank in Malaga. The new born does not have the genetic defect that would also give him the disease that his brother suffers from.
After the green light from the National Commission for Assisted Reproduction, Javier and Andres’ parents, from Cadiz, chose to resort to a genetic pre-implant diagnosis; a technique that allows to verify if an embryo is healthy from a genetic point of view, before transferring it to the mother’s uterus. For this type of diagnosis, absolutely prohibited in Italy, the embryo obtained by ‘in vitro’ fertilization’ is genetically examined to verify that it does not carry any diseases. Beyond ethical implications, the method allowed the conception of a healthy baby, but also an ideal donor in order to cure the brother through a bone marrow transplant, since he is compatible and able to donate.