COPENHAGEN — A group of English researchers has shown that it may be possible to create human ova and sperm from embryonic stem cells. Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are those cells created in the human reproductive system that later form ova and sperm and any genetic alteration made to them at this early stage can then be carried down into future offspring. Many opponents to human cloning research have warned against this possibility of genetic tampering with future generations, but it was a possibility that seemed far off until now.
Mr. Behrouz Aflatoonian, a Ph.D. student involved in the research at the Centre for Stem Cell Biology, University of Sheffield, presented a paper on June 20 at the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. He said the research is in its early stages but that experiments with mice have shown that human stem cells taken from embryos show a possibility of being manipulated into growing PCGs.
The researchers, said Aflatoonian, “found that within two weeks a very tiny proportion of cells in the embryoid bodies began to express some of the genes that are found in human primordial germ cells. Some cells also expressed proteins only found in maturing sperm. This suggests that (embryonic cells) may have the ability to develop into PGCs and early gametes as has been shown previously for mouse embryonic stem cells.”
One of the biggest drawbacks faced by cloning researchers is that because of the high rate of failure of cloning attempts, very large numbers of ova are required for the research to continue. The possibility of creating ova out of human stem cells has tantalized cloners for years.
“Ultimately it might be possible to produce sperm and eggs for use in assisted conception treatments. This is a long way off and we would have to prove it was safe because, for example, the culture process may cause genetic changes.
From a very early stage of development, the human fetus already has the entire mechanism for creating the PGCs that will develop into sperm or ova. PGCs are prized by cloning researchers because they contain the genetic material necessary for some methods of cloning other than the usual somatic cell nuclear transfer.
In 2002, British MP Dame Jill Knight said of similar research, that it was “the stuff of nightmares.” Dr. Roger Gosden's research that removed ova from aborted baby girls for use in in vitro fertilization was considered so horrific that even Britain, home of some of the most permissive research and abortion legislation in the world, made it criminal in 2002.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
