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First Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Reported
A San Diego company has announced that it has been able to obtain embryo-like bodies by depositing the nucleus of a human skin cell into a human egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. The process is technically known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) or, more simply, nuclear transfer, and is popularly known as cloning.
This process, which was made famous by the sheep clone Dolly about ten years ago, would allow research on stem cells with particular traits, such as gene-linked diseases, depending on the genes of the skin cell donor. The stem cells would be derived from the embryos developed through the cloning procedure. Thus laboratory research on specific genetic complexes associated with certain diseases would be markedly advanced. The stem cell products of SCNT might also be used to treat disorders in the donor, called therapeutic cloning. For example, healthy pancreatic islet cells might be produced that are genetically compatible with a diabetes patient and able to encourage growth of normal cells in the patient’s organ. However, the company has not yet been able to extract stem cells from the embryos.
The company, called Stemagen, said it used 25 human eggs obtained with informed consent to obtain five embryos, a fairly respectable success rate, especially considering the difficulties involved in obtaining human eggs. However, because of the shortage of human eggs, that rate would have to be signficantly improved in order for therapeutic cloning to be a realistic option. The five embryos grew to clusters of between 40 and 72 cells.
The announcement is another in a recent spate of important developments in stem cell biology, including the creation of pluripotent stem cells from human skins cells.
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