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Therapeutic Cloning Works in Mice With Parkinson's

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
Monday, March 24, 2008; 12:00 AM

MONDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Therapeutic cloning successfully treated Parkinson's disease in mice, researchers report.

Using the process to develop dopamine-producing neurons with an identical genetic profile to each mouse being treated allowed scientists to significantly improve the neurological performance of the diseased animals, without provoking any evidence of immune system rejection.

"This is the first time that anyone has done this kind of cloning experiment to show the therapeutic aspect of the process in this customized way," said study author Dr. Viviane Tabar, an associate professor of neurosurgery in the department of neurosurgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

The finding -- which has not yet been replicated in human trials -- was published in the March 23 online issue of Nature Medicine.

Two more articles on this same topic.

Stem Cells from Skin Used to Treat Parkinson’s in Rats

MIT researchers report they have demonstrated for the first time that artificially created stem cells can be used to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats.

Fetal cells for Parkinson's not long-term

Stem cells transplanted into the brains of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease are being damaged as the original cells were damaged by the disease, showing that the disease can propagate from host to the transplanted cells.