What kinds of diseases could be treated by therapeutic cloning?
In addition to their value in the treatment of strokes or Alzheimer’s disease, cloned neurons could be used to correct the movement disorders of Parkinson’s disease or to restore movement to people who are paralyzed. Cloned pancreatic cells could be transplanted into diabetics to produce the insulin that their own pancreases are not producing. Eventually, many other diseases might become treatable using cloned cells. Again, however, more research is needed to determine the potential benefits. Is any of this work being done now? Researchers are at the very earliest stages of experimenting with such treatments. Work is just beginning with neuron implants in Parkinson’s, for example, though no one has yet tried the experiment with cloned cells. Researchers do not yet know how to transform a generically altered egg into neurons, pancreatic cells, or other specialized cells. So far, only one U.S. company has claimed to have cloned a human embryo for this type of research: Advanced Cell Tech
