What if the baby that the stem cells come from has a genetic defect?
First of all, the parents of our stem cell donor infants are screened for genetic diseases in them and in their families. In most cases, when a child develops a genetic disease, it is a recessive trait. This means that the child gets the disease because that child has two coinciding copies of a bad gene. Genetic diseases are rare. Recessive genetic defects being active in a baby are many times more rare. It is very likely that any family genetic defect that would be active in the baby would be uncovered in the screening process. It is also very likely that any hidden genetic defects would not be active in the baby, or in his stem cells. It is extremely unlikely that any genetic defect in the baby’s cells would cause any problems in a transplant recipient. If there were any effect at all, it would likely be that the cells were not as helpful as they otherwise might have been. Even this is very unlikely. Read on for a more detailed explanation. Sickle cell As you know, genetic traits are
