Heritable polygenic editing: the next frontier in genomic medicine?

Peter M. Visscher (), Christopher Gyngell, Loic Yengo and Julian Savulescu ()
Additional contact information
Peter M. Visscher: University of Queensland
Christopher Gyngell: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Loic Yengo: University of Queensland
Julian Savulescu: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Nature, 2025, vol. 637, issue 8046, 637-645

Abstract: Abstract Polygenic genome editing in human embryos and germ cells is predicted to become feasible in the next three decades. Several recent books and academic papers have outlined the ethical concerns raised by germline genome editing and the opportunities that it may present1–3. To date, no attempts have been made to predict the consequences of altering specific variants associated with polygenic diseases. In this Analysis, we show that polygenic genome editing could theoretically yield extreme reductions in disease susceptibility. For example, editing a relatively small number of genomic variants could make a substantial difference to an individual’s risk of developing coronary artery disease, Alzheimer’s disease, major depressive disorder, diabetes and schizophrenia. Similarly, large changes in risk factors, such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure, could, in theory, be achieved by polygenic editing. Although heritable polygenic editing (HPE) is still speculative, we completed calculations to discuss the underlying ethical issues. Our modelling demonstrates how the putatively positive consequences of gene editing at an individual level may deepen health inequalities. Further, as single or multiple gene variants can increase the risk of some diseases while decreasing that of others, HPE raises ethical challenges related to pleiotropy and genetic diversity. We conclude by arguing for a collectivist perspective on the ethical issues raised by HPE, which accounts for its effects on individuals, their families, communities and society4.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08300-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:637:y:2025:i:8046:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08300-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08300-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().