California Scientists Report Creating Cloned Embryos Using Human Adult Skin Cells

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 21 Jan 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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Researchers at the San Diego-based biotechnology company Stemagen on Thursday reported that they have used human adult skin cells to create cloned embryos, the New York Times reports. Stemagen researchers, led by former animal cloner Andrew French, said they are the first to create such embryos that advanced to the blastocyst stage, the point at which embryonic stem cells usually are extracted. The research is published online in the journal Stem Cells (Pollack, New York Times, 1/18).

Cloning involves fusing a regular body cell with a woman's egg cell from which DNA has been extracted. The egg then reprograms the body cell's DNA so that the newly created cell develops into an embryo that is a genetic twin of the donor, the Washington Post reports. For the study, Stemagen scientists took skin cells from CEO Samuel Wood's arm and some from an anonymous Stemagen investor (Weiss, Washington Post, 1/18). Researchers then fused the skin cells to 29 eggs donated by women at a fertility clinic managed by Wood. The team created five blastocysts. Genetic testing showed that one blastocyst was a clone and that two others showed strong evidence of being clones, the researchers reported.

Wood said the key was using women who had been successful donors at this fertility clinic and who were known to be fertile and healthy (New York Times, 1/18). Researchers were able to obtain eggs donated by fertility clinic clients within about one hour of removal from the women's ovaries, Wood said. According to the Post, the donors and the recipients agreed to share several of the best eggs because they had a surplus, compared with most experiments in which researchers are given "leftover" eggs.

It is unclear whether the cloned embryos would have been viable if implanted into a womb, the Post reports. French said that they appeared healthy but stressed that he has no plans to create cloned infants. "It's unethical and it's illegal, and we hope no one else does it either," Wood said, adding that he wants to produce stem cell lines for research and medical treatments. According to the Post, no federal law prohibits cloned infants, but FDA has said such experiments would require its approval (Washington Post, 1/18).

Stemagen now is working on using the cloning process to create embryonic stem cells, the Boston Globe reports (Nickerson, Boston Globe, 1/18).

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"We have a very simple goal, to create the most therapeutically useful [stem cell] lines that are possible," Wood said, adding, "We consider this a major milestone in our attempt to reach that goal" (Ricks, Long Island Newsday, 1/18). George Daley, president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said the study is "very convincing, [it's] just not that big a leap." He added, "The real holy grail is to generate a pluripotent stem cell line from a cloned human blastocyst. It's only a matter of time before some group succeeds" (Boston Globe, 1/18). Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology said the study did not show the results of molecular tests that scientists often display to prove a complete cloning process. "I'd really like to believe it, but I'm not sold yet," Lanza said.

Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) said he hopes to reintroduce legislation this year that would ban all forms of human cloning. "Human cloning is now less about the science and more about the novelty, which makes it all the more nefarious," Weldon said. According to the Post, previous efforts to ban cloning have failed because Congress is divided on the issue of banning human embryo cloning for research purposes (Washington Post, 1/18).

The study is available online (.pdf).

NBC's "Nightly News" on Thursday reported on the study. The segment includes comments from Wood and Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics (Bazell, "Nightly News," NBC, 1/17). Video of the segment is available online.

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