Human embryonic stem cells created
from adult tissue for first time
The cells, made with cloning technique behind Dolly the sheep, have the potential to
regenerate damaged organs and tissues
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guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 May 2013 17.21 BST
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The embyronic stem cells were genetically identical to the people who donated their
skin cells. Photograph: Gaetan Bally/AP
Scientists have used the cloning technique that led to Dolly the sheep to turn human
skin into embryonic stem cells – which can make any tissue in the body.
The US team overcame technical problems that had frustrated researchers for more
than a decade to create batches of the body's master cells from donated skin.
The work will spark fresh interest in the use of cloning in medical research, and
reignite the controversy over a procedure that demands a supply of human eggs, and
the creation and destruction of early stage embryos.
The US group employed the technique to make embryonic stem cells that were
genetically matched to individuals. In future such cells could be used to study diseases
in exquisite detail, and potentially regenerate damaged organs and tissues.
"Our finding offers new ways of generating stem cells for patients with dysfunctional
or damaged tissues and organs," said Shoukhrat Mitalipov at Oregon Health and
Science University. "Such stem cells can regenerate and replace those damaged cells
and tissues and alleviate diseases that affect millions of people."
Dolly was born in 1996 after researchers led by Sir Ian Wilmut in Edinburgh created
an embryo by fusing a cell from a sheep's udder with an egg that has had its nucleus
removed. The embryo was a clone – genetically identical to the adult sheep the udder
cell came from.
Since Dolly's arrival, teams of scientists have tried to use cloning to make early-stage
embryos, which contain embryonic stem cells. To do so, they fuse a skin cell and an
egg with its nucleus removed, then apply an electric shock to make the resulting cell
grow. The process has worked in some animals, but until now had failed in humans.
Hopes that cloning might usher in a new era of medicine were dealt a major blow in
2005, when the South Korean stem cell researcher, Woo-suk Hwang, claimed to have
perfected the process and made fresh tissue from patients' skin. A year later, Hwang
was charged with embezzlement and illegally buying human eggs after it emerged
that his results had been faked in one of the greatest scandals in modern science.
Writing in the journal Cell, researchers led by Mitalipov describe how they uncovered
several problems with the cloning process and set about solving them. They overcame
one glitch – the premature development of the cloned embryo – by adding caffeine to
their dishes.
The revamped procedure dramatically improved the efficiency of cloning, and
Mitalipov's team harvested at least one batch of embryonic stem cells for every egg
donor. Tests on the cells found they could grow into any body tissue.
"This is an important advance because it is feasible - one embryonic stem cell line
was generated from just two eggs," said Christopher Shaw, professor of neurology at
King's College London. "Like many good experiments caffeine has made an
invaluable contribution."
Interest in therapeutic cloning had waned among many researchers after the invention
of a new technique that allowed scientists to reprogram skin cells into a more
embryonic form. Unlike cloning, the procedure did not require human eggs, or the
creation of early-stage embryos. Last year, Sir John Gurdon of Cambridge University,
and Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, shared a Nobel prize for pioneering socalled induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Though iPS cells hold great promise, they carry mutations and other abnormalities
that might rule them out for medical therapies. Mitalipov's work resurrects cloning as
a tool for creating stem cells, and means that iPS cells can now be compared directly
with embryonic stem cells to see if the differences matter.
Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics at the MRC National Institute
for Medical Research, said the work "brings the topic of therapeutic cloning in
humans back into the realm of good science rather than controversy".
In Britain and elsewhere, it is illegal to implant a cloned embryo into a woman's
womb, and studies in animals show that most cloned embryos are aborted or suffer
birth defects.
"It is an unsafe procedure in animals and it will similarly be an unsafe procedure in
humans. For this reason alone it should not be attempted," said Lovell-Badge. "We
are not just a product of our DNA, which is the only thing that is copied in cloning.
Nurture and environment are at least as important in determining who we are,
therefore cloning cannot be used to bring back a loved one."
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00jebus
15 May 2013 5:27pm
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A potential cure for cancer.
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samlebon23
15 May 2013 5:39pm
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@00jebus 15 May 2013 5:27pm. Get cifFix for Firefox.
Go ahead get sick and science will save you.
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jamesrouters
15 May 2013 6:19pm
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@samlebon23 - okay then.
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today12
15 May 2013 5:51pm
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DESTROYING EMBRYOS MAKES BABY JESUS CRY:(
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ElizabethBathory
15 May 2013 5:55pm
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@today12 - yeah whatever.
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Esdaile
15 May 2013 5:57pm
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@today12 - its you that makes me want to weep..... and I may be mistaken but I
thought Jesus, if there ever was one, was all grown up?
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Esdaile
15 May 2013 6:02pm
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@today12 - ..okay joshing around aside, I think you really need to go back and
read the piece again I think you have your loin cloth or shroud in a twist, Jesus,
baby or otherwise can relax, no tears required.
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EyesAlive
15 May 2013 6:15pm
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@today12 15 May 2013 5:51pm. Get cifFix for Firefox.
Any creator that saw his creation learn to clone itself would surely be astounded
and delighted.
We were created by evolution and biochemistry, and deities do not exist, but for
argument's sake.
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jamesrouters
15 May 2013 6:20pm
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@today12 - Guys this person is joking. I think
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ElizabethBathory
15 May 2013 5:56pm
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I hope that it can help cure diseases like hirschsprung's, but maybe the bowel is too
complex an organ?
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NewSlang
15 May 2013 5:57pm
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Nurture and environment are at least as important in determining who we are, therefore
cloning cannot be used to bring back a loved one."
Amazing we live in an age where this is given as a genuine warning.
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frenegonde
15 May 2013 5:57pm
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Have they found out how to stop the cells growing once the replacement organ has
reached its full size?
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bannon47
15 May 2013 6:00pm
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Getting stems cells from a sample of your skin is now possible,but is it desirable? Get
stem cells,build a new heart,kidney or lung? Will the new organ be genetically identical? If
so what if it contains the same aberrant genes that made you more prone to cancer of that
organ?
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today12
15 May 2013 6:03pm
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it's not right to destroy a life to possibly improve another. This goes against nature and
God and needs to be stopped now.
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oppochips
15 May 2013 6:12pm
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@today12 - you are going against nature and God and need to stop yourself now.
Turn off your computer. Now. Or you will go to hell.
And if you don't believe I am who I am you will go to hell.
Last warning, take it or leave it.
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EyesAlive
15 May 2013 6:17pm
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therefore cloning cannot be used to bring back a loved one.
Thanks for the heads up.
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