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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS