Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Gene edits to ‘CRISPR babies’ might have shortened their life expectancy

Study of almost half a million people links mutation that protects against HIV infection to an earlier death.
  1. Sara Reardon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The scientist who edited the genomes of twin girls in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV might have inadvertently shortened their life expectancy. People with two disabled copies of the CCR5 gene — the version that protects against HIV infection — are 21% more likely to die before the age of 76 than are people with at least one working copy of the gene, according to a study1 published on 3 June in Nature Medicine. The reason for the discrepancy is unknown.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 570, 16-17 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01739-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 04 June 2019: This story originally said that 11% of the UK population carries two copies of a CCR5 mutation. In fact, that figure applies to people who carry at least one copy of the mutation.

References

  1. Wei, X. & Nielsen, R. Nature Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0459-6 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Falcon, A. et al. J. Gen. Virol. 96, 2074–2078 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Glass, W. G. et al. J. Exp. Med. 203, 35-40 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Joy, M. T. et al. Cell. 176, 1143-1157 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Associate or Senior Editor, Humanities and Social Sciences

    As an Editor, you will support the Chief Editor in managing the Editorial Board and editorial decision-making processes across the journal.

    Heidelberg, London or Pune – Hybrid working model

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Southeast University Future Technology Institute Recruitment Notice

    Professor openings in mechanical engineering, control science and engineering, and integrating emerging interdisciplinary majors

    Nanjing, Jiangsu (CN)

    Southeast University, China

  • W2-Professur für Integrative Zoologie der Invertebraten

    At the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany a   W2 Professorship for Integrative Zoology of Invertebrates ...

    Jena, Thüringen (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • W3-Professur für Pharmazeutische Biologie

    The Faculty of Biological Sciences at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany invites applications for a   W3 Professorship for Pharmaceuti...

    Jena, Thüringen (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • Scientist, RNA Genomics

    The lab of Computational Transcriptomics at the Genome Institute of Singapore is offering a position for a postdoctoral fellow.

    Singapore (SG)

    Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links