Sperm Donor with Rare Cancer Mutation Fathered at Least 197 Children Across Europe
A major international investigation has revealed that a sperm donor unknowingly carried a genetic mutation dramatically increasing the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe.
The mutation affects the TP53 gene, which plays a crucial role in preventing cells from becoming cancerous. This results in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a condition that carries up to a 90% lifetime risk of developing cancer — often in childhood — as well as a high risk of breast cancer in adulthood.
Most of the donor’s body does not contain the dangerous form of TP53, but up to 20% of his sperm do. Any child conceived from affected sperm will inherit the mutation in every cell of their body.
The donor, who was healthy and passed standard screening checks, began donating as a student in 2005. His sperm was used for around 17 years.
Children Have Already Developed Cancer — Some Have Died
Doctors treating children with cancer linked to sperm donation raised concerns at the European Society of Human Genetics this year.
Initial data showed 23 children out of 67 known at the time carried the mutation; 10 had already been diagnosed with cancer.
Through Freedom of Information requests and interviews with doctors and families, the investigation — led by 14 public service broadcasters including the BBC as part of the European Broadcasting Union’s Investigative Journalism Network — has confirmed at least 197 children were born from this donor’s sperm.
This figure may not be final, as data from all countries has not been obtained.
Some children have already developed multiple cancers and died at a very young age.
Families Devastated by the News
Céline (not her real name), a single mother in France whose daughter was conceived with the donor’s sperm 14 years ago, was contacted by her fertility clinic in Belgium urging her to get her daughter screened.
She says she has “absolutely no hard feelings” towards the donor but describes the situation as unacceptable: “We were given sperm that wasn’t clean, that wasn’t safe, that carried a risk.”
She knows cancer will be looming over them for the rest of their lives: “We don’t know when, we don’t know which one, and we don’t know how many. I understand that there’s a high chance it’s going to happen and when it does, we’ll fight and if there are several, we’ll fight several times.”
The European Sperm Bank’s Response
The European Sperm Bank, which sold the donor’s sperm, expressed its “deepest sympathy” to affected families and admitted the sperm was used to conceive too many children in some countries.
The bank said the donor and his family members are not ill, and such a mutation is not detected preventatively by genetic screening. They immediately blocked the donor once the problem was discovered.
Ongoing Medical Surveillance for Affected Children
Children who inherit the mutation require lifelong annual monitoring, including MRI scans of the body and brain, abdominal ultrasounds, and other tests to detect tumours early.
Women often choose preventive mastectomies to reduce their risk of breast cancer.
Prof Clare Turnbull, a cancer geneticist at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, described Li-Fraumeni syndrome as: “A dreadful diagnosis… a very challenging diagnosis to land on a family, there is a lifelong burden of living with that risk, it’s clearly devastating.”
Implications for Fertility Regulation
The case has raised serious questions about the regulation of sperm donation across Europe, including limits on the number of children per donor and more rigorous genetic screening.
The investigation highlights the profound human cost when genetic risks go undetected in fertility treatments.
