Cloned Embryos Created to Match Stem Cells, Patients
Related News: Cloning News, Stem Cells and Diabetes, Stem Cells and SkinSouth Korean scientists have announced a highly efficient way to clone human cells. This latest discovery could alter the scientific and political debate over the procedure.
Effectively they have created 11 new lines of cloned human embryonic stem cells. For the first time, this includes two that are genetically matched to patients with a disease. The two disease-carrying cell lines were cloned from patients with juvenile diabetes and an inherited blood disorder.
The biggest news coming out of this is the indication that cloning of human cells can be seen as a reliable procedure.
The team, led by Woo Suk Hwang at Seoul National University, cloned skin cells from patients with a wide range of ages, from 2 to 56. South Korean announced the first successful cloning of human cells last year, but it required 242 egg cells, which are used to make microscopic embryos, to create a single batch, or stem cell line. By continuing to improve their techniques, the team made 11 new lines of embryonic stem cells .. with only using 185 egg cells. This a significant improvement in efficiency.
"This is a very important paper," said Douglas Melton, a Harvard University biologist who is preparing an effort to clone human cells. "I am very impressed by the speed with which they have done this."
However, critics of cloning research have been concerned that treating patients will require large numbers of donated eggs from women, pointing out that egg donation carries some risk.
The paper, published by the journal Science, may reduce this overall concern. This new research shows that it is possible to create a line of cloned embryonic stem cells using only the eggs gathered from a single cycle of fertility treatment in one woman.
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Posted on May 20, 2005 01:13 PM