SCNT

The goal of SCNT (Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer), commonly referred to as therapeuticis, is to develop treatments for diseased and injured patients by creating stem cell derived, patient-specific, genetically identical cells that their bodies won't reject and that can be used in therapeutic transplant.

The process of SCNT involves the following steps: the nucleus (DNA) is taken from the somatic (body) cell of a person suffering from a disease; it is then injected into an unfertilized egg from which the nucleus has been removed; the egg is stimulated to divide and produce stem cells. These stem cells can be grown in a culture for a long time and it can grow into tissue. This new tissue will have the same DNA as the person suffering from the disease, which can greatly reduce the likelihood that their body will reject the transplant. This is due to the fact that these cells are recognized as “self” cells. It may also help prevent the need for immunosuppressive drugs, which often have severe and potentially life-threatening side effects.

In short, nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells—so-called therapeutic cloning—cannot create life, but can potentially save millions of lives and relieve the suffering of millions more. SCNT has a great potential in providing a treatment for many diseases and debilitating disorders, including Parkinson’s, spinal-cord injury, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, ALS, heart disease, and cancer.

The controversy over therapeutic cloning comes in part from the word “cloning”. Scientists are performing cloning every day, most of which is commonly accepted, such as cloning to develop powerful new drugs or to produce useful bacteria in the lab.

There's a world of difference between reproductive cloning - the use of cloning technology to create a child - and therapeutic cloning, the transplanting of a patient's own DNA into an unfertilized egg in order to grow stem cells that could cure devastating diseases. With therapeutic cloning, the blastocyst can never develop into a person, because there is no fertilization of the egg by sperm, no implantation in the uterus and no pregnancy.