Chinese Breeding Like Rabbits

Cloning Yields Human-Rabbit Hybrid Embryo=20

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 14, 2003; Page A04=20


Scientists in China have, for the first time, used cloning techniques=20
to create hybrid embryos that contain a mix of DNA from both humans=20
and rabbits, according to a report in a scientific journal that has=20
reignited the smoldering ethics debate over cloning research.=20



More than 100 of the hybrids, made by fusing human skin cells with=20
rabbit eggs, were allowed to develop in laboratory dishes for several=20
days before the scientists destroyed them to retrieve so-called=20
embryonic stem cells from their interiors. Although scientists in=20
Massachusetts had previously mixed human cells and cow eggs in a=20
similar attempt to make hybrid embryos as a source of stem cells,=20
those experiments were not successful.=20

Researchers said yesterday they were hopeful that the rabbit work=20
would lead to a new and plentiful source of embryonic stem cells for=20
research and, eventually, for medical use. But theologians and others=20
decried the work as unethical.=20

Some wondered aloud what, exactly, such a creature would be if it=20
were transferred to a womb to develop to term.=20

The vast majority of the DNA in the embryos is human, with a small=20
percentage of genetic material -- called mitochondrial DNA --=20
contributed by the rabbit egg. No one knows if such an embryo could=20
develop into a viable fetus, though some experiments with other=20
species suggest it would not.=20

Congress has been mulling legislation for years that would outlaw=20
certain human cloning experiments, with some opposed to any creation=20
of cloned embryos for research and others sympathetic to research=20
uses as long as the embryos are not allowed to grow into cloned=20
babies. No law has been passed, however, in part because of=20
researchers' warnings that the proposed restrictions are so far-
reaching that they would hobble development of new medical=20
treatments.=20

The new work, led by Hui Zhen Sheng of Shanghai Second Medical=20
University, appears in the latest issue of Cell Research and was=20
highlighted in a news report in the journal Nature. Cell Research is=20
a peer-reviewed -- if little-known in the United States -- bimonthly=20
scientific journal affiliated with the Shanghai Institute of Cell=20
Biology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Some researchers=20
yesterday said they were frustrated by the lack of details in the=20
paper.=20

The team said it retrieved foreskin tissue from two 5-year-old boys=20
and two men, and facial tissue from a 60-year-old woman, as a source=20
of skin cells. They fused those cells with New Zealand rabbit eggs=20
from which the vast majority of rabbit DNA had been removed. More=20
than 400 of those new, fused entities grew into early embryos, and=20
more than 100 survived to the blastocyst stage -- the point at which=20
coveted stem cells begin to form.=20

The approach could help scientists wishing to mass-produce human=20
embryos as sources of human embryonic stem cells. Stem cells can=20
morph into all kinds of tissues and may be able to reverse the=20
effects of various degenerative diseases. But to make cloned embryos,=20
scientists need both normal body cells -- such as skin cells -- and=20
egg cells, which have the unique capacity to "reprogram" the genes in=20
body cells and make them behave as though they were embryo cells.=20

Because human egg cells are difficult and costly to retrieve from=20
women's ovaries -- and because human egg retrieval poses risks to the=20
donors -- scientists have been wanting to know whether animal eggs=20
may serve as well. A major question has been whether the remnants of=20
mitochondrial DNA that typically remain in an animal egg would be=20
compatible with the nuclear DNA contributed by the human cell.=20

The new work suggests that the answer to that question is yes,=20
scientists said -- though with a number of caveats. Most important,=20
researchers said, the paper stops short of proving beyond a doubt=20
that the stem cells retrieved from the hybrid embryos are truly=20
capable of growing for long periods of time in lab dishes, and that=20
they can turn into every known kind of cell.=20

Even so, said Douglas Melton, a Harvard University cell biologist and=20
cloning expert, the work is a big advance because it offers a new=20
system for exploring the mechanisms by which egg cells get adult=20
cells to act in embryonic ways. That could provide deep insights into=20
human development, wound healing and tissue regeneration.=20

He noted that although this is the first creation of a=20
human "chimeric" embryo -- a reference to the fabulous chimera of=20
Greek mythology, which had a lion's head, a goat's body and a=20
serpent's tail -- it is not the first time scientists have blended=20
human cells into lab animals. Some mice, for example, have been=20
endowed with human brain cells or portions of the human immune system=20
for research.=20

The Chinese work, Melton said, is "extremely interesting, and I hope=20
they pursue it."=20

R. Alta Charo, an associate dean of law and professor of bioethics at=20
the University of Wisconsin at Madison, noted that the work passed=20
muster with Chinese ethics authorities, who had demanded, among other=20
things, that the embryos not be allowed to grow more than 14 days.=20

"Short of putting one of these embryos into a woman's body for=20
development to term, I don't think this work harms anyone alive,"=20
Charo said.=20

She said the experiments should force opponents of cloning research=20
to identify more clearly than they have until now exactly where they=20
would draw the line against human embryo cloning -- in effect: How=20
human does an embryo have to be to have the moral standing these=20
advocates confer on embryos?=20

Richard Doerflinger, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said=20
he felt certain that the human-rabbit embryos were human enough to=20
deserve protections.=20

"I think because all the nuclear DNA is human," Doerflinger=20
said, "we'd consider this an organism of the human species."=20

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55911-2003Aug13.html
=20


"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the=20
laws."=20
Meyer Amschel Rothschild, first patriarch of the
Rothschild dynasty=20

"In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a=20
deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve=20
overpopulation."
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as reported by Deutsche Press=20
Agentur (DPA), Aug. 1988

"The American People don't read."
Allen Dulles,when confronted with the fact that the Warren Commission=20
Report was not credible to anyone who read it.=20

"There is a continuum between those who would express dissent and=20
those who would do a terrorist act..."=20
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller=20

"As Osama is to the creation of an American police-state under=20
George, so George is the catalyst seemingly necessitating Global=20
Government."
Ozzy bin Oswald

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a=20
human face - forever."
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four

"Mit der Dummheit k=E4mpfen G=F6tter selbst vergebens": "With stupidity=20
even the gods struggle in vain."
Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)

"We gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he [Saddam=20
Hussein] wouldn't let them in."
George W. Bush, historical revisionist=20

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Film - Road to Tyranny:
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