Scientists clone human patients for stem cells

The team of South Korean scientists who cloned the first human embryo to use for research have now have used the same technology to create batches of embryonic stem cells from nine patients.

One of the basic promises of using cloning technology in stem cell research, that a piece of skin could be taken from a patient and used to grow the stem cells, has been fulfilled by this study.

The researchers are optimistic that the cells could one day be used to provide tailor-made tissue and organ transplants to cure juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's disease and even to repair severed spinal cords. Embryonic stem cells differ from adult stem cells in that they have the potential from the beginning to form any cell or tissue in the body.

According to Woo Suk Hwang and colleagues at Seoul National University the process they used is much more efficient than they hoped, and yielded 11 stem cell batches, called lines, from six adults and three children with spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes and a rare immune disorder.

Hwang says the study demonstrates that embryonic stem cells can be derived using nuclear transfer from patients with illness, regardless of sex or age.

Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh, a stem cell expert who reviewed the study, says he is amazed at how much they have accomplished in just a year and the amount, the quality and the rigorousness of their evidence.

The researchers say that even though the patients whose cells were copied will not directly benefit, they hope that by studying the cells a better understanding will be gained of their conditions.

They say their method may be less controversial than other work with embryonic stem cells because, by their definition, a human embryo was never actually created.

The report is guarantied to contribute to the growing U.S. political controversy over the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The report is published in the journal Science.