Stem cells made by cloning adult humans

Two research groups have independently produced human embryonic stem-cell lines from embryos cloned from adult cells. Their success could reinvigorate efforts to use such cells to make patient-specific replacement tissues for degenerative diseases, for example to replace pancreatic cells in patients with type 1 diabetes. But further studies will be needed before such cells can be tested as therapies. The first stem-cell lines from cloned human embryos were reported in May last year by a team led by reproductive biology specialist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University in Beaverton (see ‘Human stem cells created by cloning’). Those cells carried genomes taken from fetal cells or from cells of an eight-month-old baby¹, and it was unclear whether this would be possible using cells from older individuals. Read more.