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Carol Yang

A leading Chinese scientist is under investigation by his university after a six-year-old girl reportedly died following experimental gene-editing therapy.
The girl, named Mei, died days after receiving a treatment designed to correct a genetic mutation affecting her neurodevelopment in March last year, according to a report published by Science following a joint investigation with Retraction Watch, a non-profit organisation that monitors retracted research.
Her parents said she had suffered a fatal immune reaction linked to the treatment.
The trial was led by Qiu Zilong, a neuroscientist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s brain centre who is researching ways to adapt base editing into treatments for children with rare diseases.
“Seven days after the girl’s medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the base editor into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy,” Science and Retraction Watch said.


Xinhua Hospital, which is affiliated to the university, paid a small fine worth around 24,000 yuan (US$3,500) to local health authorities last September, but Qiu faced no public sanctions at the time.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s school of medicine said at the weekend it had established a special group to investigate a paper published by Qiu and a clinical study conducted at the hospital.
“The medicine school has always valued research integrity and standards, and resolutely opposes medical research that violates research ethics and regulations,” the school said.


The report said the clinical trial had been funded in part by US$860,000 scraped together by the parents from their personal savings and relatives.
According to documents provided by the parents, Xinhua Hospital allowed Qiu’s trial to proceed under a regulatory provision that does not require approval from national regulators.
Mei’s parents said they had decided to speak out now due to a perceived lack of accountability from both the researchers and the institutions involved.
“Learning the reality of these missing safeguards has fundamentally changed how we now view the entire project,” her father told Science.
The death was omitted from a paper published in Nature earlier this year about animal trials of the gene-editing therapy.
The report also alleged that the paper did not mention that monkeys given the treatment had developed liver and kidney problems.
Qiu declined to comment and said “all responses will be provided by the leaders of [the medical school]”. The university has also been asked for comment.
The controversy has drawn comparisons to China’s most notorious gene-editing scandal. In 2018, scientist He Jiankui shocked the global scientific community by creating the world’s first gene-edited babies, leading to a three-year prison sentence for illegal medical practices.


Qiu was among more than 100 Chinese scientists who signed an open letter condemning He’s actions at the time.
“The project completely ignored the principles of biomedical ethics, conducting experiments on humans without proving it’s safe,” Qiu said in an interview at the time.
Additional reporting by Dannie Peng


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Shanghai Jiao Tong University says it is investigating after a report alleges the child died after receiving treatment from Qiu Zilong


Shanghai Jiao Tong University says it is investigating after a report alleges the child died after receiving treatment from Qiu Zilong.


Shanghai

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Chinese scientist faces probe after girl, 6, dies ‘following experimental gene therapy’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shanghai Jiao Tong University says it is investigating after a report alleges the child died after receiving treatment from Qiu Zilong

Shanghai Jiao Tong University says it is investigating after a report alleges the child died after receiving treatment from Qiu Zilong