8 - Embryonic stem cells from blastomeres maintaining embryo viability

Summary

Parthenogenetically activated oocytes are a very attractive source for embryonic stem (ES) cell derivation, because such cells would only carry maternal HLA genes, which would reduce the variability and number of lines required for immune-matching the patients. Pluripotent cells were produced from primate (including human) parthenote embryos and seem to have the same phenotype, behavior, and differentiation potential as normal ES cells. While induced pluripotent cells (iPS) technology remains very promising for future clinical applications, the only safe and efficient derivatives of pluripotent cells for transplantation so far have been produced from ES cells, which remain a controversial technology. In conclusion, the most promising technologies to bring cell therapy to the patients without destroying human embryos are the iPS, parthenogenetic pluripotent cells, and generation of human ES cell (hESC) from a single blastomere. The first two have great potential because the derivatives could be immune-matched with the patient.