Patient-specific stem cell first

[Ganzo]

South Korean scientists say they have made stem cells tailored to match the individual for the first time.

Each of the 11 new stem cell lines that they made were created by taking genetic material from the patient and putting it into a donated egg.

The resultant cells were a perfect match for the individual and could mean treatments for diseases like diabetes without problems of rejection.

But the researchers told Science that there were still hurdles to overcome.

And critics said this "cloning" technique was unethical.

The stem cell lines produced from patients with disease will likely also display some of the characteristics of that disease, which, in some cases, might mean they would need to be manipulated before being used as a treatment, said Dr Gerald Schatten, from the University of Pittsburgh, US, who worked with the Seoul National University team.

Researchers will also need to develop ways to efficiently direct the growth of stem cells into stable cell types, said Professor Woo Suk Hwang and his colleagues who successfully cloned human embryos last year.

"Scientists must also find a way to remove the remaining animal components from the laboratory procedures," they said.

Currently, scientists use animal enzymes to isolate the cells needed for such research.

They also stressed that the technique should not be used to make genetically identical babies - called reproductive cloning.

The technique

Stem cells are primitive "master" cells that can be programmed to become many kinds of tissue.

To make them patient-specific, the researchers took DNA from the skin cells of volunteers and put this genetic material into donated human eggs which had had their own genetic material removed.

These eggs were grown to a very early stage of embryo development, around six days, when they were still just small balls of cells. The scientists then extracted the stem cells.

When the researchers examined them in the laboratory, the stem cells appeared to be immunologically compatible to the individual who donated the DNA.

Professor Chris Higgins, from the UK Medical Research Council, said: "It really is an advance. It offers the possibility of stem cell therapies without rejection.

"Also, the scientists have improved their technique and reliability of stem cell transfer."

Professor Ian Wilmut, from the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh and creator of Dolly the sheep, said: "These new observations make a very significant and important step forward toward the use of cells from cloned human embryos for research and therapy."

Roger Pedersen, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University of Cambridge, said the work provided "ample evidence" for the feasibility of replacing the genome of a human egg with that of an adult body cell.

And Professor Alison Murdoch, Chair of the British Fertility Society, and Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, Deputy Director of Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics in Newcastle, said: "We are delighted. The promise of new treatments based on stem cell technology is moving nearer to becoming a realistic possibility."

But Julia Millington, of the ProLife Alliance in the UK, said: "Cloning for research purposes, which involves the manufacture of human embryos destined for experimentation and subsequent destruction, is profoundly unethical.

"The manufacture and destruction of one cloned embryo is one too many, regardless of the number of eggs that are required.

"Experimentation upon human life at any stage of development has no place in a civilised society."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/h ... 555023.stm

Published: 2005/05/19 18:02:03 GMT

[brinstar]

hmmm...

according to the ProLife Alliance in the UK, at 6 days after joining a SKIN cell to a HOLLOWED-OUT EGG cell, the resulting microscopic wad of goo is somehow a human?



unused egg cells bleed out into the toilet every four weeks, and skin cells fall off daily. if these things can be used to cure diabetes, cancers, etc then it's ridiculous to oppose such a goldmine of curative medical technology

[Narrock]

hmmm...

according to the ProLife Alliance in the UK, at 6 days after joining a SKIN cell to a HOLLOWED-OUT EGG cell, the resulting microscopic wad of goo is somehow a human?



unused egg cells bleed out into the toilet every four weeks, and skin cells fall off daily. if these things can be used to cure diabetes, cancers, etc then it's ridiculous to oppose such a goldmine of curative medical technology

/concur

[Ganzo]

people like ProLife Aliance is the reason this discovery happened in S. Korea

[Martrae]

Errr...I've never bled anything out into a toilet...you expecting me to sit there for several days? Tampons, or pads if that's your choice, catches all those nasty egg cells.

Now back to your regularly scheduled disdain for story....

[veeneedefeesh]

screw ethics, if they can cure cancer or heart disease or diabetese then it is valuable research.

[horendus]

Woo Suk Hwang

[veeneedefeesh]

how do you think they got the DNA...duh

[brinstar]

hmmm...

according to the ProLife Alliance in the UK, at 6 days after joining a SKIN cell to a HOLLOWED-OUT EGG cell, the resulting microscopic wad of goo is somehow a human?



unused egg cells bleed out into the toilet every four weeks, and skin cells fall off daily. if these things can be used to cure diabetes, cancers, etc then it's ridiculous to oppose such a goldmine of curative medical technology

/concur

you do?

[Eviljonte]

Well if you knew how they get the egg cells you would realise thats it´s not a eggfilter in the toilet that yields the egg. The most common method is to achieve an hyperovulation via hormon therapy and trough a transvaginal ultrasound guided needle expirate the eggs.

I dont´t know if that changes anytning but it is in my opinion really hard to create laws in this field that are ethical.

Edit grr damn engrish

[Ganzo]

I dont´t know if that changes anytning but it is in my opinion really hard to create laws in this field that are ethical.

Simple, if it's egg and not an embrion, and it's taken from donor with donor's agreement: it's ethical.

You know all the religious idiots who cry against it, forget that we have commandment from God to improve our bodies with science and medicine.