Last week saw the publication of yet another research paper on animal cloning. But are the results of this latest study good or bad news for scientists hoping to use cloned human embryo cells to develop new disease treatments - so-called 'therapeutic cloning'? Reading some of the UK and US media reports, it was hard to tell. One warned that the study shows that therapeutic cloning is 'likely to fail' using current techniques, in contrast to the headline of another, which read 'Cloning advance suggested'.
What the new study actually reveals is one potential reason for the current high failure rate of animal reproductive cloning. The researchers looked at the genetic material of cloned female calves, and found that several X chromosome genes had not been switched on properly in those that failed to survive. Scientists have long suspected that many genes are not 'reprogrammed' correctly during the cloning process, resulting in some being turned on or off inappropriately during development.
So although the latest research increases understanding of what happens during animal cloning, it does not radically change anything. However, there has been a recent tendency for journalists and pressure groups to leap upon any new study on either cloning or stem cells, hailing it as definitive proof that embryo stem cell therapies are either a guaranteed success, or doomed to failure. The temptation to put a 'spin' on such reports must be irresistible given the current political debates world-wide on embryo stem cell research, but it really is too early to say whether or not therapeutic cloning will work.
Cloning is still a relatively new area of research, and scientists are still improving the techniques involved and exploring the possible applications of this technology. It will be years before we know if therapeutic cloning can deliver new disease treatments - the only way to find out is to carry out more research. But a picture of what happens during animal cloning is slowly emerging, and with it, possible ways to improve its efficiency, both for reproductive and therapeutic purposes.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.