Send in the human clones

Subject: Send in the human clones Wed May 14, 2014 6:28 pm

When Dolly the sheep was introduced in 1996, concerns were raised about the possibility of applying the same method to create cloned human embryos. Over the next 18 years, technical hurdles and attractive alternatives appeared, slowing progress on this line of research. But now, scientists have finally succeeded in cloning human embryos.

Send in the human clones Scnt_232665a

In the early 1990s, Keith Campbell and Ian Wilmut developed a technique for removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a mammary cell from an adult sheep. When Campbell and Wilmut activated this egg, it developed into an embryo. This method not only produced the world’s first cloned mammal (1), but also generated a frenzy of opinions about the ethics, motivation, and potential of the new cloning technique.

In the months following Campbell and Wilmut’s announcement, it was impossible to escape the constant interviews with experts opining on the morality of human cloning, arguments surrounding proposed legislation, movies depicting the societal dangers of “designer babies,” and even false claims of successful human cloning. Arguments in favor of this technology emphasized the therapeutic potential for cloned cells, while those against raised concerns about the ethics of creating human embryos only to dismantle them, either for research or to treat disease. Everyone had strong feelings for or against creating human embryo clones, and most believed that, for better or worse, human cloning was just around the corner.

Several countries passed legislation regulating or prohibiting the creation of cloned human embryos, settling some of the public fears. And while the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique (SCNT) developed by Campbell and Wilmut successfully produced clones of many animals, it quickly became clear that human oocytes were not easy to work with. Then in 2006, Shinya Yamanaka’s lab announced the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from fibroblasts (2), sidestepping ethical concerns of SCNT and providing what appeared to be an ideal alternative to cloned embryonic stem cells. With these developments, fervor faded. Now, however, 18 years after Dolly was born, two independent groups of researchers finally succeeded in creating cloned embryos from adult human cells by SCNT and reported their findings in the journals Cell Stem Cell and Nature (3,4).

http://www.biotechniques.com/news/biotechniquesNews/biotechniques-351831.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=1a2f670d86-cell-biology-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5f518744d7-1a2f670d86-86696060#.U3Pmkl47069

Send in the human clones

Send in the human clones

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