Regenerative Medicine
| Japan's Council for Science and Technology Policy is likely to permit a study on growing human organs in animals by modifying their embryos, sources have said. Due to advances in regenerative medicine and the possibility of growing a whole human organ, the council believes such a study to be indispensable and plans to make a final decision on the matter soon. |
Apanel of scientists and legal experts appointed by the Japanese government has drawn up a recommendation that will form the basis of new guidelines for that country's world-leading embryonic research.
It is expected that the scientists will be granted approval to grow human organs in animals and then harvest them for transplant within the next year.
"This recommendation is a very important step forward and one that has taken us three years to achieve," Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, head of the centre for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Tokyo, told The Daily Telegraph.
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The researchers postulate that the organ will then grow into essentially a human organ, a kidney or even a heart, as the host animal matures.
The organ will then be harvested and transplanted into a human when it is required, providing an avenue for regenerative medicine.
Prof Nakauchi's team have already succeeded in injecting stem cells from rats into the embryos of mice that had been genetically altered.
"We can apply the same principles to human stem cells and pigs, although the guidelines have not permitted us to do this yet," he said.
At present, the Japanese guidelines permit scientists to develop chimeric embryos in laboratory conditions for a maximum of 14 days, but the next stage in the process – the embryos being implanted into an animal's womb – is prohibited.
As soon as government officials agree on the details of the revised guidelines – a process that is expected to take 12 months – Prof Nakauchi believes the first pig carrying a human organ can be produced "quite quickly, because the technique has been established already."
The scientists plan to initially breed a pig with a human pancreas as it is a relatively easy organ to create, Prof. Nakauchi said, and perfecting the technique will bring relief to millions of people with diabetes.
Creating kidneys and a human heart will be far more complicated, he said, but are feasible. He suggested that practical use for the organs may be as little as five years away. At this time there is no word from the researchers on their use of the chimeric techniques for growing human brains in other animals, although in principle this is totally possible.
SOURCE The Telegraph
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