Stem cells: Triploid human embryonic stem cells (pp 70-75; N&V) *PRESS BRIEFING*
Human embryonic stem (ES) cells have been derived by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) — although they have three complete sets of chromosomes. The work, published in Nature, demonstrates the feasibility of reprogramming human cells using oocytes and identifies a primary cause of developmental failure faced by researchers in the past.
SCNT is a technique that aims to obtain stem cells that are genetically matched to the donor organism and therefore therapeutically relevant. It involves the exchange of the oocyte’s genome with the genome of a somatic cell. Deiter Egli and colleagues report that the development of such oocytes after genome exchange stops at late cleavage stages, and go on to try the technique without removing the oocyte genome. When the oocyte genome is not removed and the somatic cell genome is simply added, the resulting cells develop to the blastocyst stage and the team went on to derive stem cells from the blastocysts.
This is the first conclusive evidence that a somatic cell genome transferred to a human oocyte can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent state and could help with understanding what it is about the oocyte that allows this reprogramming.
CONTACT
Dieter Egli (New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory, New York, NY, USA)
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Scott Noggle (New York Stem Cell Foundation Laboratory) co-author
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George Q. Daley (Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA) N&V author
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Jan Helge Solbakk (University of Oslo, Norway) N&V author
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