Progress is described in the online version of the journal "Cell Stem Cell", this is the first "therapeutic cloning" of human cells.
Technically described as somatic cell nucleus transfer, therapeutic cloning involves producing embryonic cells genetically identical to the donor, usually for the purpose of using the cells in the treatment of disease.
However, the transfer of the core is also the first step in the reproductive cloning or to the production of genetic duplicates of man, a technique that causes controversy since the cloning of Dolly the sheep 1997th.
The United Nations 2005 urged all countries to ban cloning, but South Korea apparently didn't do that. The latest research is funded, one foundation and government of the country.
Other laboratories confirm that this can be a major breakthrough, since in future many illnesses in the future will be heal with stem cells.
Stem cells that perfectly match the patient could be created from the old cells, without the need to create embryos.
Although it sounds possible, it is far from simple: from 39 attempts, scientists have created stem cells only once for each donor.
The study was led by Jang Gi Chang from the Research Institute for Stem Cells in Los Angeles.
In therapeutic cloning, scientists use electricity to connect an adult cell (usually a skin cell) with the egg cell which has had its DNA removed.
The egg for five to six days develops into an embryo in the form of a hollow ball.
The inner cells are "pluripotent", or have the power to become any cell of the human body.
When such an embryo was transplanted into the uterus, it could turn into a clone of the donor DNA.
"Without regulation in this area, such embryos could be used for reproductive cloning of humans, although it would be unsafe and unethical terrible", said Dr. Robert Lanza, a scientist biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology Adaptive Environments de Massachusetts and one of the authors of the new study.
The aim is that these embryonic stem cells develop into a beaker and turn into specialized cells for the purpose of treatment of the donor of certain diseases such as Parkinson's, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.
Since the cells are genetically identical donor immune system they would not be rejected.
Despite the fact that scientists working in this field 15 years, before this study only one managed to produce stem cells with this technique and that happened a year ago.
This time they created two healthy embryos, one from each donor age 35 and 75 years.
However, due to the complex techniques and poor success of this procedure, Lanza says that this therapy could obtain only very wealthy people.
Substantial obstacle in the production of stem cells that perfectly match the patient and that very few women want to donate oocytes, since it can be a very painful process.
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