South Korean scientists have cloned the world's first mature embryonic stem-cell line, in what is seen as a breakthrough toward developing new methods of treating a wide range of degenerative ailments, a US science group reported.
But the controversial experiment announced on Wednesday is also likely to raise new concerns about cloning human beings.
"Because these cells carry the nuclear genome of the individual, after differentiation they could be expected to be transplanted without immune rejection for treatment of degenerative disorders," said Woo Suk-hwang of Seoul National University, the lead researcher on the project.
"Our approach opens the door for the use of these specially developed cells in transplantation medicine," he said in a statement released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A summary of the study made public by the association said Woo and a group of other South Korean scientists were able to produce versatile and "pluripotent" stem cells by taking part of a non-reproductive cell from women and transplanting it into the women's eggs.
Blastocysts, or precursors to fetuses, produced through this transfer created a cell mass that was used to harvest well-developed embryonic stem cells, according to the document.
The method was used to develop a whole human embryonic stem-cell line, using a total of 242 eggs collected from 16 women, all unpaid volunteers.
These eggs made it possible to grow a total of 30 blastocysts and obtain 20 suitable inner-cell masses, the report said.
The resulting stem cells differentiated into all the main tissue types that appear in the early stages of human development, the researchers said.
When transplanted into mice, the stem cells differentiated into still more specific cell types, offering further proof of pluripotency, they noted.
The key to their success, the researchers believe, lay in using extremely fresh donor eggs, following stringent timing protocols and a special method of extracting DNA from eggs.
The approach has been previously used to generate cells from mice, but up to now, nobody had been successful in applying it to humans, US scientists said.
Experts said the South Korean experiment may represent a major step toward developing new cures for severe and chronic ailments such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, Parkinson's disease and others.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS