title: Human embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning.
abstract: The remarkable potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells is their ability to develop into many different cell types. ES cells make it possible to treat patients by transplanting specialized healthy cells derived from them to repair damaged and diseased cells or tissues, known as "stem cell therapy". However, the issue of immunocompatibility is one of considerable significance in ES cell transplantation. One approach to overcome transplant rejection of human ES (hES) cells is to derive hES cells from nuclear transfer of the patient's own cells. This concept is known as "therapeutic cloning". In this review, we describe the derivations of ES cells and cloned ES cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer, and their potential applications in transplantation medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theriogenology and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. hwangws@snu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Woo Suk
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Byeong Chun
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang Kyu
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung Keun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000379:methods*; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*