Korean embryo stem cell experiments 'faked', Hwang resigns

An investigation into the work of South Korean stem cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang and his team has concluded that they did not create any cloned embryo stem cell (ES cell)-lines genetically-matched to patients, as reported in their much-feted Science paper of last year. The revelations have sent shockwaves through the scientific community, and have lead to Hwang's resignation and the retraction of the publication.

The landmark paper was viewed as a major advance towards the development of new therapies using ES cells genetically-matched to patients, via 'therapeutic cloning'. But just before Christmas, an investigating panel set up by Seoul National University (SNU) - where Hwang worked - concluded that nine of the 11 cell-lines reported in the paper did not actually exist. Shortly afterwards, it announced that the other two cell-lines had been derived from IVF embryos, rather than from cloned embryos as claimed. Hwang had already asked Science to fully retract the paper, after three of his co-authors claimed the work was untrustworthy.  

In late November, Hwang resigned from his public positions after admitting that his team had used eggs provided by junior researchers and paid donors. His resignation followed a statement by US scientist Gerald Schatten, in which he abruptly ended his 20-month collaboration with Hwang over the allegations. At the time, researchers around the world expressed sadness over the unethical sourcing of eggs by the Korean scientists, but insisted that their actions did not affect the validity of their work. Now, it seems that the work was scientifically unsound, as well as ethically.

Many researchers have expressed fears that the debacle will affect the public's perception of science as a whole, not just the image of stem cell science - already a controversial area of research. 'There's a climate of mistrust of science now that's stronger than in the past', US gene therapy researcher Theodore Friedmann told the journal Nature, adding 'that will be exacerbated by this sort of event'.

The shock news also casts doubt on whether it is possible to create cloned human embryos capable of developing enough to derive stem cells. No other group has yet managed to produce a cloned human ES cell-line, although last year, scientists working at Newcastle University in the UK reported the creation of a cloned human embryo that survived for five days in the laboratory. 'We thought a fundamental question had been answered', said team leader Alison Murdoch, adding 'now we may need to look again at that fundamental step'. Another stem cell researcher working in the UK, Stephen Minger, confessed he 'always had his doubts about therapeutic cloning to generate patient-matched cells'. He says that banking cell-lines made from normal embryos and then matching them to patients is a more realistic prospect.

Questions have also been raised over Hwang's other work, such as the creation of the world's first cloned dog, published in Nature last year. According to a report in the Observer newspaper, a private laboratory in Seoul says that DNA tests prove 'Snuppy' the Afghan hound is definitely a clone. However, the SNU panel has said it is re-examining the research, and will report its findings on 10 January. It is also looking again at Hwang's 2004 Science paper, in which he reported the world's first cloned human ES cell-line. A South Korean bioethics committee will meet on 15 January, to look at the issues and allegations concerning the egg donations made to Hwang's group.