How could SCNT provide cures for diseases and injuries?
Most diseases and injuries involve defective or damaged cells and tissue. SCNT provides a way to make patient-specific stem cells that could be transplanted into a patient’s body to generate the type of cells and tissues needed to cure the patient’s disease or injury. For example, juvenile diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. SCNT could solve this problem by providing a way to generate healthy new islet cells. Many neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s and ALS, are caused by the loss or destruction of nerve cells. SCNT could be used to generate new nerve cells that could cure such diseases and could someday be used to repair spinal cord injuries, allowing people who are paralyzed by accidents to walk again.
