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Scientists clone five human embryos

By Ju Chuanjiang and Zhao Ruixue (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-04 07:43

YANTAI, Shandong: A Chinese research team has cloned five human embryos in the early stages of development from 135 samples, marking a major step in the harvesting of cells for treating serious diseases, researchers said on Monday.

The use of the cells, known as therapeutic cloning, is said to require the creation of new embryos as a source of embryonic stem cells. These cells are cultured into nerve or skin cells, or a complete human organ, to replace the body's damaged or deviant cells.

"The human-embryo cloning technology will be used in human therapeutic cloning, rather than in making 'new' human beings," Li Jianyuan, who led the research team at the Shandong Research Center of Stem Cell Engineering said.

Of the five cloned blastulas, four were from the skin fibrocyte cells of healthy donors while the other one was from the lymphocytes of patients with Parkinson's disease.

The Chinese research team reportedly used human fibroblasts, or cells used to heal wounds, and the white blood cells that boost the body's immune system, to construct the embryos to international standards.

The next step for the team would be to clone compatible organs for patients with heart diseases or other ailments.

The medical industry saw a major breakthrough in 1997 with the cloning of Dolly the sheep, which is said to have opened the way for cloning technology to be used in treating human ailments.

Agencies contributed to the story