U.S. company claims cloned humans and made stem cells

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U.S. company claims cloned humans and made stem cells

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A California company said on Thursday it used

cloning technology to make five human embryos, with the eventual

hope of making matched stem cells for patients.

Stemagen Corp. in La Jolla, California, destroyed the embryos while

testing to make sure they were true clones. But the researchers,

based at a fertility center, said they believed their ready source

of new human eggs would make their venture a success.

Other experts were skeptical about the claims, published in the

journal Stem Cells. If verified, the team would be the first to

prove they have cloned human beings as a source of stem cells, the

master cells of the body.

There are several types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, made

from days-old embryos, are considered the most powerful because they

can give rise to all the cell types in the body.

The Stemagen team said they got five human embryos using skin cells

from two adult men who work at the IVF center. They said they had

painstakingly verified that the embryos were clones of the two men.

" We hope it is a bit of a turning point for many more studies, "

French, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

They used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT,

which involves hollowing out an egg cell and injecting the nucleus

of a cell from the donor to be copied -- in this case, the skin

cells from the men.

It is the same technique used to make Dolly the sheep in 1996, the

first mammal to be cloned from an adult. Researchers hope to use the

technique to create tailor-made transplants of cells, tissue or

organs for patients, treating injuries and diseases like juvenile

diabetes.

" Since a significant percentage of couples undergoing fertility

treatments appear willing to participate in this type of research,

we believe the method described to obtain donated oocytes is a

viable and ethically acceptable strategy, " the researchers wrote.

MOST SUCCESSFUL SO FAR

Some cloning experts said the work appeared to be genuine.

" This is the most successful description so far of the use of the

cloning techniques with purely human material. However, it is still

a long way from achieving the goal of obtaining embryonic stem

cells, " said Robin Lovell-Badge of Britain's Medical Research

Council's division of stem cell biology.

" I hope that the authors have the opportunity to continue their work

and derive embryo stem cell lines, " Ian Wilmut, who led the team

that cloned Dolly and who is now at the University of Edinburgh,

said in an e-mail.

The field is controversial for several reasons.

President W. Bush opposes the use of human embryos to make

stem cells and has vetoed bills from Congress that would expand

federal funding of this research.

South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk made headlines when he was

found to have faked key parts of a report that his team had used

cloning technology to make human embryos in 2004.

" We need to be ultra-cautious after the Hwang scandal and not make

the same mistake all over again, " said Dr. Lanza of Advanced

Cell Technology, a Massachusetts company that is also trying to make

human embryonic stem cells. " I'd really like to believe it, but I'm

not sold yet, " Lanza said.

Other teams have made stem cells they believe are similar to

embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, including

reprogramming a human egg cell alone, reprogramming ordinary skin

cells into what are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or by

taking one cell from a human embryo without harming the embryo.

But most stem cell experts agree it is important to continue trying

to make stem cells from embryos too.