Prospects for the use of nuclear transfer in human transplantation

The successful application of nuclear transfer techniques to a range of mam malian species has brought the possibility of human therapeutic cloning sig nificantly closer The objective of therapeutic cloning is to produce plurip otent stem cells that carry the nuclear genome of the patient and then indu ce them to differentiate into replacement cells, such as cardiomyocytes to replace damaged heart tissue or insulin-producing beta cells for patients w ith diabetes. Although cloning would eliminate the critical problem of immu ne incompatibility, there is also the task of reconstituting the cells into more complex tissues and organs in vitro. In the review, we discuss recent progress that has been made in this field as well as the inherent dangers and scientific challenges that remain before these techniques can be used t o harness genetically matched cells and tissues for human transplantation.