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Human-animal hybrid medical embryos have been highly controversial from the start, but some scientists held high hopes for this research, believing it could help scientists find treatments for certain difficult diseases. However, scientists have now discovered that research on creating human-animal hybrid medical embryos may be doomed to fail.
The latest experiments in the United States found that human DNA cannot be perfectly combined with the egg cells of female rabbits or cows. Although human-animal embryos appear normal under a microscope, they have genetic defects, meaning these embryos may be of no use to medicine and science. Ian Wilmut, the father of the cloned sheep Dolly, considers these new findings "extremely disappointing."
The American research team stated that if the same results are replicated elsewhere, it would mean that the ethical debates over human-animal embryos in recent years have been a waste of time.
Researchers hoped to synthesize cloned embryos as a source of "priceless" stem cells, which are the "mother cells" in embryos that can transform into any other type of tissue, from heart muscle to brain cells.
Stem cells can be used to treat many diseases, including heart problems, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. However, due to the lack of human egg donors, scientists proposed using human-animal hybrid embryos as a way to synthesize a large number of human cloned embryos to obtain stem cells. But the latest research shows that human-animal embryos are difficult to succeed. The research report was published in the journal "Cloning and Stem Cells."
Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in the United States implanted human DNA into the egg cells of rabbits, cows, and humans, and then observed the respective results. The egg cell system reprogrammed the human DNA, turning on genes to form normal embryos. But they found that while human eggs (also called oocytes) could correctly reprogram DNA, animal eggs could not.
Lanza said, "For ten years, we have conducted hundreds of experiments trying to generate patient-matched stem cells using animal egg cells. We got great little hybrid embryos, but no matter how hard we tried, it ultimately did not succeed."
Source: http:/ / www. chinanews. com. cn/ ……ews/ 2009/ 02- 05/ 1550758. shtml
Scientists Confirm Infeasibility of Human-Animal Hybrid Embryos
The latest experiments in the United States found that human DNA cannot be perfectly combined with the egg cells of female rabbits or cows. Although human-animal embryos appear normal under a microscope, they have genetic defects, meaning these embryos may be of no use to medicine and science. Ian Wilmut, the father of the cloned sheep Dolly, considers these new findings "extremely disappointing."
The American research team stated that if the same results are replicated elsewhere, it would mean that the ethical debates over human-animal embryos in recent years have been a waste of time.
Researchers hoped to synthesize cloned embryos as a source of "priceless" stem cells, which are the "mother cells" in embryos that can transform into any other type of tissue, from heart muscle to brain cells.
Stem cells can be used to treat many diseases, including heart problems, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. However, due to the lack of human egg donors, scientists proposed using human-animal hybrid embryos as a way to synthesize a large number of human cloned embryos to obtain stem cells. But the latest research shows that human-animal embryos are difficult to succeed. The research report was published in the journal "Cloning and Stem Cells."
Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in the United States implanted human DNA into the egg cells of rabbits, cows, and humans, and then observed the respective results. The egg cell system reprogrammed the human DNA, turning on genes to form normal embryos. But they found that while human eggs (also called oocytes) could correctly reprogram DNA, animal eggs could not.
Lanza said, "For ten years, we have conducted hundreds of experiments trying to generate patient-matched stem cells using animal egg cells. We got great little hybrid embryos, but no matter how hard we tried, it ultimately did not succeed."
Source: http:/ / www. chinanews. com. cn/ ……ews/ 2009/ 02- 05/ 1550758. shtml