Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on October 14, 2008
Human Reproduction 2008 23(12):2875-2876; doi:10.1093/humrep/den349
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Letters to the Editor |
Bringing together clinical embryology and basic reproduction around human cloning
1 Faculty of Medicine, Autonomous University of Yucatan, PO Box 3, Admon Pensiones, PC 97212, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico 2 Institute of Sciences in Human Reproduction ‘Vida’, León, Guanajuato, Mexico
3 Correspondence address. Tel: +52-999-9255162; Fax: +52-999-9240554; E-mail: rpina.a{at}hotmail.com, rpina{at}fmedicina.uady.mx
Sirs,
A recent publication on human cloning reports the development of human blastocysts after somatic cell nuclear transfer using adult fibroblasts (French et al., 2008
). French et al. (2008) work gives a big and good support to the human cloning area; first, this research was performed with ‘traditional’ procedures, those used in the creation of Dolly (the most famous clone); second, this comes at a difficult time for this area: where the fraudulent research in human cloning is still fresh in the public's and academic's minds (Kennedy, 2006) and also it has been created a new world in stem cell research, the induced pluripotent stem cells in humans, which are against nuclear transfer research for stem cells derivation (Park et al., 2008; Takahashi et al., 2007; Yu et al., 2006); third and finally, USA presidential elections and the possible changes in US government policies to support human stem cells and cloning research are around the corner. Also a big step was made with the derivation of embryonic stem cell lines from rhesus monkey-cloned embryos (Byrne et al., 2007), where now it has been independently confirmed (Cram et al., 2007); a step towards the goal of stem cell derivation from human cloned embryos. In this case, the success was attributed to a new tool: the polarization microscopy for enucleation and this represents a real improvement in more than 10 years of mammalian nuclear transfer technology.
The paper guarantees controversy in all fronts and has already begun to be commented upon (Cervera and Stojkovic, 2008). However, it inspires me to think in an unexplored part of the human cloning puzzle: how has the human cloning done? Who are the best people to continue developing this area? In the majority of attempts, human cloning comes from basic scientists in human reproduction (sometimes people with non traditional academic qualifications in human medicine, e.g. veterinarians) involved in exceptional experiments. But who are the people those work every day with human embryos, who produce and manipulates them with confidence and also care for their development and knows more that anyone about the secrets of preimplantation life of human embryos? They are the clinical embryologists, people working in fertility clinics, who perform all laboratory procedures related with human assisted reproduction procedures (ARTs).
French et al's (2008) paper comes from an ART clinic and private company working together; one of the authors is a renowned clinical reproductive endocrinologist and CEO in Stemagen (a stem cells company), and the other is a senior embryologist of Reproductive Science Center in La Jolla, California (again a triumph for California world's leadership in stem cells development). It is a necessity, holding together these two fields (clinical and basic reproduction) and there are many reasons, one of them is fundamental: it may exist around the world more ART clinics than reproduction research laboratories and even animal cloning laboratories, for example, the Center for Disease Control reports more than 400 clinics in USA, ESHRE more than 780 clinics in EU and there also exist clinics in developing countries where animal cloning is too far to be a reality.
The problem of developing human cloning and converting this into a clinical reality can be covered in one necessity. More people are needed to work is this area; as many as possible. With the accomplishment of this goal, the answers and procedures in human cloning will soon follow. Like in French et al's (2008) work, the success in cloning is not simply due to polarization microscopes, it is the people involved in it. I am sure that the best way to do it is attracting embryologists to human cloning research and fusing the best of both worlds.
References
Byrne JA, Pedersen DA, Clepper LL, Nelson M, Sanger WG, Gokhale S, Wolf DP, Mitalipov SM. Producing primate embryonic stem cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Nature (2007) 450:497–502.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
Cervera RP, Stojkovic M. Commentary: somatic cell nuclear transfer—progress and promise. Stem Cells (2008) 26:494–495.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
Cram DS, Song B, Trounson AO. Genotyping of Rhesus SCNT pluripotent stem cell lines. Nature (2007) 450:E12–E14.[CrossRef][Medline]
French AJ, Adams CA, Anderson LS, Kitchen JR, Hughes MR, Wood SH. Development of human cloned blastocysts following somatic cell nuclear transfer with adult fibroblasts. Stem Cells (2008) 26:485–493.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
Kennedy D. Editorial retraction. Science (2006) 311:335.[Web of Science][Medline]
Park IH, Zhao R, West JA, Yabuuchi A, Huo H, Ince TA, Lerou PH, Lensch MW, Daley GQ. Reprogramming of human somatic cells to pluripotency with defined factors. Nature (2008) 451:141–146.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
Takahashi K, Tanabe K, Ohnuki M, Narita M, Ichisaka T, Tomoda K, Yamanaka S. Induction of pluripotent stem cells from adult human fibroblasts by defined factors. Cell (2007) 131:861–872.[CrossRef][Medline]
Yu J, Vodyanik MA, Smuga-Otto K, Antosiewicz-Bourget J, Frane JL, Tian S, Nie J, Jonsdottir GA, Ruotti V, Stewart R, et al. Induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from human somatic cells. Science (2007) 318:1917–1920.
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