Scientists from Boston Children's Hospital, US and the American biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) report that they have successfully used cloning technology to grow cattle kidney and heart tissue for transplant without the risk of rejection. The research is published in the June issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The scientists replaced the genetic material in cow eggs with DNA taken from the nuclei of adult cow cells - the same technique used to clone Dolly the sheep. The resulting embryos were transplanted to surrogate mothers and allowed to grow for six weeks. Heart and kidney tissue from the developing fetuses was then transplanted back into the cows from which the original DNA had been taken. Because the tissue had an identical genetic make-up to the cows into which it was transplanted, it was not rejected, despite cattle having 'a sophisticated immune system' similar to that of humans.
The researchers believe that their study shows the 'enormous medical potential' of so-called 'therapeutic cloning' in humans. Dr Anthony Atala, one of the authors of the study, said that 'the study is proof of the principle that therapeutic cloning can be used to create tissues without any threat of rejection'.
Another study author, Dr Robert Lanza, from ACT, commented that the experiments ought to be repeated in humans to see whether similar results can be achieved. However, it is unlikely that human experiments could follow the same procedure as it would involve creating a clone pregnancy. The authors of the study also believe it would be ethically unacceptable to repeat their experiments in humans.
Sources and References
-
Clone tissue transplant success
-
Scientists claim cloning success
-
Researchers implant cloned cow tissues
-
Therapeutic cloning gets boost in implant study
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.