Cloning- breakthrough in medicine or unethical issue?

One of the most appealing sciences for me is genetic engineering. The power of this science is growing from day to day and in this blog post I’m going to be talking about an intriguing, but at the same time very interesting topic- cloning.

But, first of all, what is cloning? Cloning – a method for isolating and identifying DNA fragments, as well as receive them in unlimited quantities. First cloning experiment dates back to more than hundred years, Hans Spemann split the two-cell embryo salamander equally and was able to grow a full body, from each divided part. Spemann’s discovery was then followed many other attempts to recreate a clone, but the most famous and long-living clone was a sheep named Dolly. It was a first clone created on the basis of the genetic material of an adult, not a fetus or embryo as its predecessors. However, the source of DNA, according to the assumption of some scientists, caused several problems in cloned sheep. The ends of the chromosomes in the body of Dolly – the telomeres – were as short as that of its nuclear donor – adult sheep. Enzyme called telomerase is responsible for the lengths of the fragment in a body. In the case of an adult mammal organism- only the fabric of stem cells and reproductive cells are constantly extending, whereas all other cells in a body shorten after each division. When the chromosomes reach a critical length, the cell stops dividing. That’s why telomerase is considered one of the main intracellular mechanisms that regulate life span of cells.Today, it is hard to say exactly whether Dolly’s old chromosomes were the primary cause of her early death. She lived 6.5 years, which is slightly more than half the normal sheep lifespan. Experts were forced to kill Dolly, as she developed a virus called adenomatosis (benign tumors) of the lungs and severe arthritis. Common sheep also often suffer from these diseases, but more often at the end of life, so excluding the hypothesis of telomere length is obviously impossible. Scientists who wanted to test this hypothesis, could not confirm it: artificial “aging of” cell nuclei through their long-term cultivation in vitro gave a completely opposite result: the length of the telomeres in the chromosomes of newborns greatly increased and even surpassed normal levels. Telomeres of cloned animals may be shorter than their ordinary counterparts, but this is not the only problem. Most mammalian embryos obtained by cloning dies. The moment of birth is also critical. Newborn clones often suffer from gigantism, die from respiratory distress, developmental defects of the kidneys, liver, heart, brain, and the lack of white blood cells in the blood. And after that, scientists and people still ask themselves… is cloning really dangerous?Many people argue against cloning, claiming that this is unethical and has limitation in religious and social aspects. However I personally disagree with that opinion. Science of genetics is a great opportunity to explore life, find cures for the diseases and make huge breakthroughs in medicine. In my support, I can bring an example of a study, where 2 research groups have independently produced human embryonic stem-cell lines from embryos cloned from adult cells. First team researchers led by Young Gie Chung and Dong Ryul Lee at the CHA University in Seoul reported in Cell Stem Cell that they had cloned embryonic stem-cell (ES cell) lines made using nuclei from two healthy men, aged 35 and 75. And in a paper published on Nature‘s website today, a team led by regenerative medicine specialist Dieter Egli at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute describes ES cells derived from a cloned embryo containing the DNA from a 32-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes. The researchers also succeeded in differentiating these ES cells into insulin-producing cells.

Sources:

Baker, Monya. “Stem Cells Made by Cloning Adult Humans.” Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cells-made-by-cloning-adult-humans-1.15107>

Tachibana, M. et al. Cell 153, 12281238 (2013).

Chung, Y. G. et al. Cell Stem Cell http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2014.03.015 (2014).

Yamada, M. et al. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13287 (2014).

Sparman, M. L., Tachibana, M. & Mitalipov, S. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 54, 16711678 (2010).

3 thoughts on “Cloning- breakthrough in medicine or unethical issue?

  1. Sam Mark Harman

    I always thought cloning was a ridiculous topic that was both unethical and nearly impossible to complete. First, cloning a human is almost impossible because you would only be able to make the clan the same a the person on a physical level, but there is much more to being who you are than how you look. I do find the idea of cloning interesting, but the story of Dolly proves that it is still a very risky thing to do and that scientists probably do not know as much as they think they know about cloning.

  2. Madisen Lee Zaykowski

    I have always thought the idea of cloning was ridiculous. The thought of making replica of someone or something seems crazy, and even unethical almost to me. Pus, how could it be possible to make an exact con of a human being when we are so complex. It is an interesting idea, but after reading about Dolly the sheep, the idea of cloning freaks me out even more. These scientists don’t necessarily know 100% what they are creating, so what f they create something bad and destructive.

  3. Kory M Barbanel

    I really enjoyed reading your blog as i have also given the issue some thought. Cloning would be awesome there is not a doubt about it, however with all the movies and theories on life and death and god and science and the supernatural, I, being somewhat spiritual, would have liked to this this go off more on to studies into people’s perception of cloning from the religious standpoint, what those studies show, etc. I found this link for anyone that was curious like me into more of a religious view on the idea of cloning.
    http://www.religioustolerance.org/clo_intra.htm
    Just right click and open it to open the link.

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