Breakthrough: stem cells from a cloned embryo

Scientists have used caffeine to achieve a stem cell breakthrough that many researchers thought impossible but that could lead to new therapies for many crippling diseases.

A US team used a human skin cell to create a cloned human embryo from which they were able to extract embryonic stem cells, a world first.

The technique, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning, is ethically controversial because it involves the production, and subsequent destruction, of a human embryo.

Its medical promise is that the embryonic stem cells obtained which can turn into all cell types in the body for possible organ repair and transplant are genetically matched to the person who donated the skin cell.

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"This study is a breakthrough development that overcomes a major scientific hurdle with significant implications for potentially treating a range of diseases," said Bryce Vissel, the head of the Neurodegeneration Research Program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

Scientists, including Australian researchers, have spent years attempting to create embryonic stems cells from cloned human embryos. "Our finding offers new ways of generating stem cells for patients with dysfunctional or damaged tissues and organs," said the study leader, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, from the Oregon Health & Science University.

"Such stem cells can regenerate and replace those damaged cells and tissues and alleviate diseases that affect millions of people," said Professor Mitalipov.

The chair of stem cell sciences at the University of Melbourne, Martin Pera, said the new method also offered a unique approach to preventing inherited mitochondrial diseases, which cause debilitating degeneration in the brain and heart of affected individuals.

The discovery is published in the prestigious journal Cell.

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Breakthrough: stem cells from a cloned embryo