Scientists make strides in stem cell lab research

SCIENTISTS have made strides in lab research in personalised stem cells, reviving interest in a goal clouded by fraud and ethical storms.

Stem cells are primitive cells that differentiate into the various tissues of the body and are touted as future replacements for diseased or damaged organs.

The idea is to take versatile stem cells from early-stage embryos that have been “cloned” to the same DNA as the patient. That way, any cells are recognised as friendly by the patient’s immune system and are not attacked after being transplanted.

The standard cloning technique entails taking an egg and removing its nucleus, which contains the vital DNA code.

The core is then replaced with the nucleus of a cell from the donor. The egg, bathed in nutrients, then divides, its genetic code thus reprogrammed.

In 2004, South Korean Hwang Woo-suk made headlines when he claimed to have produced a line of stem cells derived from an embryonic human clone.

Hwang plunged into disgrace when it emerged he had faked many of his results and obtained his eggs unethically and illegally.

The new research, reported in the journal Nature, takes a different tack from Hwang’s work.

A team led by Dieter Egli of the New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory left the egg’s DNA intact and added DNA from an adult donor cell.

What resulted was a “triploid” cell, comprising three sets of chromosomes: 23 from the egg and 46 from the donor cell.

Cells from the “triploid” embryo show signs of normal embryonic stem cells, proving the importance of leaving the egg DNA in place, according to the study, published in Nature.

However, triploid embryos are genetically abnormal and not viable, Nature cautioned.