- Scientists have devised a way of providing
every child with its own "body repair kit" by using cloning as
a way of generating unlimited supplies of human tissue for transplant surgery.
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- They believe their plans to create the
world's first human clones could revolutionise the treatment of incurable
diseases.
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- Researchers from Britain, who are working
with American scientists, have informed Government advisers of their plans,
which envisage the day when every new-born baby will have its own supply
of cloned cells frozen in a national tissue bank for transplant operations
in later life.
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- The team, which includes the scientists
who cloned Dolly the sheep, is working on combining those techniques with
research on embryonic cells which can develop into blood, bone, muscle
and even brain cells. This would enable perfect tissue matches without
the risk of rejection which occurs with conventional transplants.
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- They emphasise that their submission
stops short of creating a cloned embryo which develops much beyond a week
old, thereby circumventing ethical concerns about the creation of a cloned
adult.
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- The proposals are nevertheless likely
to generate a wave of disapproval from groups that are concerned about
the rights of unborn children and other ethicists who believe that no form
of human cloning should ever be allowed.
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- The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, where
Dolly was created from the cell of an adult sheep, confirmed this weekend
that it is in active negotiations with scientists who have pioneered the
use of embryonic cells for transplant operations.
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- "We are in confidential discussions
with prospective partners but are not yet ready to make a public announcement,"
said Harry Griffin, the Roslin Institute's assistant director of science.
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- It is understood, however, that one of
the potential partners is the team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
which last week announced that it had identified the embryonic "stem
cells" capable of developing into any one of the dozens of different
tissues of the body.
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- The advantage of combining the Dolly
cloning technology with the stem cell research is that unlimited supplies
of tissue could be generated from the transplant patient who would not
need to take drugs to prevent organ rejection.
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- Ian Wilmut, who led the Dolly research
at the Roslin, is also collaborating with Austin Smith, director of the
Centre for Genome Research at Edinburgh University, who is the leading
exponent of Britain's research effort into human embryonic stem cells.
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- Dr Smith said that he has submitted an
outline of the collaborative proposals to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority (HFEA), Britain's statutory watchdog on embryo research which
is in consultation on the future of human cloning.
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- "It's an area that the Roslin Institute
is very enthusiastic about and we'd like to work together on this. We can't
do it at the moment because in the UK it is illegal, but this research
may help to persuade people of the potential benefits," Dr Smith said.
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- Generating embryonic clones by fusing
the cell nucleus of a person with an unfertilised human egg which has had
its own nucleus removed promises to allow scientists to extract embryonic
stem cells that will be a perfect tissue match of the person in question,
Dr Austin said.
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- "You'll be able to take tissue samples
from babies when they are born and derive stem cells by nuclear transfer
in order to freeze them down so that everybody will have their own embryonic
stem cells," he said.
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- "That's not what we can do today,
but at the research level that's what we're thinking. I think it would
be possible in a couple of years."
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- In his submission to the HFEA, Dr Smith
calls for an extension of the regulations covering human embryo research
so that "therapeutic cloning" is permitted. He still voices his
opposition to "reproductive cloning" which would result in the
a fully mature adult clone.
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- "For isolation of embryonic stem
cells, embryos are only required to develop to the blastocyst stage, which
falls well within the 14-day limit of current legislation," he says
in the submission.
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- A spokesman for the HFEA said that the
suggestions of Dr Smith and the Roslin scientists are being "actively
considered" by the authority.
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- "It's on the agenda. We haven't
received an application but clearly the concept has been made to us. We're
discussing it in a general context," said the spokesman.
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