back therapeutic cloning. The old idea of taking the genome of a skin cell from a patient, put in an egg and use the resulting embryo to generate stem cell cultures not only still alive, but is healthier than ever. Scientists in New York and Jerusalem just improve the technical to the point of asserting their clinical application in the near future. And they have achieved thus cloned pancreatic insulin-producing-from a patient diabetes beta cells 33. U.S. law, however, is way behind the science in this case.
Regenerative medicine has undergone a revolution in recent years with the invention of a second type of stem cell, iPS, or induced pluripotent cells, which do not require the construction of a human embryo, and that two years ago earned him the Nobel Prize for Medicine to its creator , the Japanese Shinya Yamanaka. . But neither the Nobel committee, which also awarded the prize to John Gurdon, the cloner of the first animal-and other scientists in the field have given up at any time to the original ideaAs noted in Nature Dieter Egli, the Stem Cell Foundation New York , and colleagues at the Columbia University in the same city and Hebrew University of Jerusalem , iPS cells, however much they may be the future of regenerative medicine, currently fraught with pitfalls facing clinical application. “IPS cells” they write, “are often defective in their differentiation (specialization into useful cell types for transplantation), contain aberrant patterns of methylation (epigenetic modification), and acquired somatic mutations.”
A bleak picture compared to the cloned embryonic cells, which would be very close to clinical application but for the adverse legal environment. So back therapeutic cloning? “The answer is yes,” says Egli COUNTRY. “Research in regenerative medicine has focused heavily on iPS cells from developing this technique in 2007 by Nobel Prize Shinya Yamanaka and his team. However, our work shows that patient-specific stem cells derived by nuclear transfer (cloning) are a viable source for cell replacement therapies. “ Like other scientists in the field, the team leader New York sees no reason to give up a promising line of research for the mere fact that there is another. “All of these technologies, including iPS cells and embryonic stem cells derived by cloning, remain relatively unexplored and as yet we do not know what strategy will be most useful for medicine, prefer to continue to explore all paths.”
Enthusiasm on therapeutic cloning is becomingInsoo Hyun, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland
Despite all this, Egli has not the slightest criticism of the Nobel prize to the discoverer iPS cells. Quite the contrary: “The Nobel Yamanaka has galvanized stem cell research and has attracted attention, interest and motivation toward unprecedented field to show scientists that stem cell technology has incredible potential ; is true that, at the same time, has discouraged research laboratories in cloning; but we believe that our success in this area will establish a new equilibrium, with both progressing in parallel lines. “
Another factor that has played against human cloning fraud is the famous Korean researcher Hwang Woo-Suk , whose echoes are still off more than a decade after the scandal. “Any scientific fraud creates distrust in a field of research,” says the researcher from New York, “and this is still a very real problem today as it was at the time; but that particular work of Hwang is no longer a significant factor. “
Insoo Hyun, a professor of bioethics at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland , Ohio, says El Pais: “The excitement over therapeutic cloning is becoming, in effect, with the latest published works; although the discovery by Yamanaka iPS cells has advanced the field considerably, researchers are willing to create many specific cell lines from patients with cloning techniques, if only to compare its quality with iPS cells. ”
Do you re cloning? It seems.
Therapeutic cloning for a patient of diabetes
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