Sperm Donor With Rare Mutation Linked to Cancer Sparks Debate

Yahoo

29-05-2025

Originally appeared on E! Online
A sperm donor with a rare genetic mutation linked to cancer is sparking debate about regulation of the practice.
In the years between 2008 and 2015, sperm from the same donor was used to conceive at least 67 children from 46 families, Edwige Kasper—a biologist at Rouen University Hospital in France—revealed, per CNN, during a May 24 presentation at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan.
And of the children conceived using the unnamed donor's sperm, ten have already been diagnosed with cancer.
'At the heart of the problem seems to lie the regulation,' Kasper explained during the presentation, 'or maybe the lack of regulation of the number of births by a single donor.'
While analysis proved that the donor was healthy himself, it also showed that he possessed a rare mutation in a gene named TP53, which is likely to cause a rare disorder that increases a person's risk of developing cancer called Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.
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The mutation was not known when the donation was made, Kasper clarified, but children born from this donor have since been identified in eight different European countries. And ten of them have been diagnosed with cancers such as brain tumors and Hodgkin Lymphoma. Another 13 children, per CNN, are carrying the gene but have not yet developed a cancer.
Because of the children's increased risk of developing cancer, Kasper added that they will require regular medical examinations throughout their lifetimes. After all, they have been predisposed to have a 50% chance of transmitting the mutation onto their kids.
At the time of donation, the man had only donated to a single private sperm bank, per CNN, The European Sperm Bank in Denmark.
'The donor has been thoroughly tested even above the required standards,' Julie Paulli Budtz, the organization's Vice President of Corporate Communications, told CNN in a statement. 'But preventative genetic screening is reaching its limits here.'
'Every human being has about 20,000 genes,' she added, 'and it is scientifically simply not possible to detect disease-causing mutations in a person's gene pool if you don't know what you are looking for.'
And while there is currently no limit on the number of children that are allowed to be born using a single donor, per CNN, Budtz expressed her desire to change that.
'In addition to following national pregnancy limits,' she stated, 'we have proactively implemented our own international limit of 75 families per donor.'
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