The life of some children with hematological malignancies can be saved by the cord blood of their newborn siblings. Parents may chose to have another child in the hope of conceiving an HLA-identical donor sibling. However, there is only 25% chance that siblings will be perfect HLA-identical and the cord blood can be used. In vitro fertilization and genetic testing can ensure that HLA-identical fertilized egg is selected for implantation and that the stem cells from the cord blood can be used for treatment of the affected sibling. The ethics has been debated since such a test has been possible. This topic came up again at the Middle East Molecular Biology Society meeting in Dubai in the lecture of Dr. Peter Brinsden.
Do you support preimplantation HLA typing in this context?