

'Cloning' makes human stem cell - protagonist_h
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15191866

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ern
Link to the original paper (or abstract, for those of us who lack access):
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7367/full/nature1...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7367/full/nature10397.html)

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jessriedel
> The exchange of the oocyte’s genome with the genome of a somatic cell,
> followed by the derivation of pluripotent stem cells, could enable the
> generation of specific cells affected in degenerative human diseases. Such
> cells, carrying the patient’s genome, might be useful for cell replacement.
> Here we report that the development of human oocytes after genome exchange
> arrests at late cleavage stages in association with transcriptional
> abnormalities. In contrast, if the oocyte genome is not removed and the
> somatic cell genome is merely added, the resultant triploid cells develop to
> the blastocyst stage. Stem cell lines derived from these blastocysts
> differentiate into cell types of all three germ layers, and a pluripotent
> gene expression program is established on the genome derived from the
> somatic cell. This result demonstrates the feasibility of reprogramming
> human cells using oocytes and identifies removal of the oocyte genome as the
> primary cause of developmental failure after genome exchange.

"Oocyte" = egg cell. "Somatic" = normal (non-ovum/sperm) body cell.
"Pluripotent" = capable of developing into all cell types.

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ars
Can you imagine the ruckus if he had actually implanted this embryo? Wow. Up
till now human cloning was impossible.

Would be especially interesting for a woman to do this to her own eggs since
the chromosome mixing would not change anything in that case.

Someone tell me if I've misunderstood this.

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onemoreact
You it might be viable but it would not be a clone in the traditional meaning.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelters_syndrome>

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checoivan
This is huge. Recollected pluripotent cells can only be reproduced and divided
a very limited number of times with the techniques we know so far (it used to
be ~2x). A big problem was that only a very small amount of stem cells usable
for treatment can be collected from ,say, like a placenta.

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jcfrei
quick, let's get some of jobs skin cells! on a more serious note: I wonder
whether the state of the skin cells matter - eg. would this work on
conserved/dead skin cells as well?

