WORCESTER, Mass.-Cells from six cows that were cloned last year show no sign of the premature aging that was identified in Dolly the sheep, scientists from Advanced Cell Technology reported on April 28 in Science (2000;288:665-669).
While Dolly was found to have short telomeres-caps at the ends of chromosomes-indicating that her cells were aging faster than normal, the cows had slightly longer telomeres than normal. In fact, the telomeres looked like those of newborns, even in a cow who was exactly a year old.
"Our results show that cloning actually has the potential to reverse the aging of cells," said author Robert P. Lanza, MD, of Advanced Cell Technology.
The company's objective in carrying out cloning is to create human stem cells, which would be capable of differentiating into a variety of human cells, such as heart cells, neurons, blood cells, or islets for transplant therapies. The company hopes the technology will lead to cures for age-related diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and heart, liver, and kidney disease.
"The ability to produce even a small number of young cells of any type, all of which are genetically identical to a patient and with no transplant rejection problems, may prove lifesaving for a host of age-related disorders," said author Jose Cibelli, PhD, also of Advanced Cell Technology.
* In another recent report, scientists from StemCells California, Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology in San Diego that they have produced mature liver cells from purified blood stem cells in mice. The finding could lead to "a relatively easy source of stem cells for liver cell therapy…[and] creates the possibility that the problems of tissue rejection that plague transplant recipients can be overcome by using the same cells to give rise to both the blood system and the liver system," said investigator Eric Lagasse, PhD.
For Your Information:
The abstract of Dr. Lanza's report: www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/288/5466/665.
Advanced Cell Technology's press release: www.advancedcell.com/newpage12.htm.
Article in Science Daily: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/04/000428073628.htm.
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