What is Therapeutic Cloning and Why Do We Need It?

 These two diagrams illustrate therapeutic cloning, as described in the text below them.  Two of the arrows in the diagrams are misleading, however.  Note that the clonal embryo resulting from the first process is the source of the blastocyst used in the second process to culivate stem cells and then specialized cells for therapeutic use.

These diagrams illustrate only one aim of the research cloning of embryonic stem cells: the development of  cell-replacement therapies.  But research cloning may also make other valuable contributions  -- e.g., other kinds of cell-based treatments for diseases having a genetic component, safer testing of experimental medicines, and more ethnically diverse stem cell lines – that receive little media attention and are almost always overlooked by critics of therapeutic cloning. 

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Problems With Tic Cloningherapeut

It is true that there are tremendous benefits of therapeutic cloning. This however, does not in any way dilute the various hurdles the process has to face before rendering successful. Few therapeutic cloning problems and obstacles are discussed below:

• Research on therapeutic cloning over years has been promising, but adult cells by nature do not have a wide scope of application. Stem cells from embryos have proven to have greater flexibility than adult cells.
• Through the somatic cell nuclear transfer, a new person comes to existence. When stem cells are removed from the embryo, it is killed and many people consider this as murder. Pro-life supporters are therefore in protest of therapeutic cloning.
• There are still a few defects in the process, as a few tests have shown people and animals to develop diseases or tumors post therapeutic cloning. These shortcomings need to be eliminated before approval.
• The major concern regarding therapeutic cloning is, where to get eggs from? To start this process at a wide level, millions of eggs would be needed. Removing eggs from women is painful for them and not practically feasible as well. Thus, efficient ways to produce stem cells need to be discovered before taking therapeutic cloning to the next level.

Ref : http://www.buzzle.com/articles/therapeutic-cloning.html

Therapeutic Cloning Benefits

In case of successful embryo creation through therapeutic cloning, replacement organs can be produced and a lot of people who are suffering from this condition can be cured. Numerous lives can be saved and people can live longer as well. Several benefits with regards to this include:

• As the organ's DNA exactly matches with the person's, the fear of rejection while transplant vanishes.
• The practice of waiting for a donor to obtain the desired organ would come to a halt as the required organ can be generated at will.
• Unlike an already used organ from a donor, the new one would be brand new and without any problems which could have come with the a used organ.
• Kidney transplants will become easier as the need of a donor who would have to shorten his lifespan will erase.
• There is a possibility that therapeutic cloning can find cures for diseases which cannot be treated otherwise.
• Lives of patients in want of an organ donor will be saved.

Ref: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/therapeutic-cloning.html

What is Therapeutic Cloning?

Therapeutic cloning is a method through which stem cells are created, but used only for repairing damaged tissues in the parent clone cell. These stem cells can be used to grow alternate varieties of organs such as heart, liver and kidney, which can be transplanted as an exact match. This method can create stem cells which could produce sound nerve cells for patients suffering from Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

The person in search of healthy stem cells will have to offer a non-sperm and non-egg cell, from which the DNA would be taken out. This DNA will contain two replicates of each human chromosome. It will then be introduced into a donor egg, which would have its DNA and nucleus already removed. This process is known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. The newly inserted egg would now behave like it has just been fertilized, and would start to divide to form an embryo. It is from this embryo that stem cells would be taken out and refined to generate the required healthy tissue. Read more in detail on embryonic stem cell research.

Therapeutic Cloning

Therapeutic cloning refers to a procedure which produces cells, specific body parts, and organs to be utilized for medical purposes. Although this has only been realized with parts of bladders[2], early cleavage-stage human embryos have been cloned[3][4] and this is the subject of much active research. Currently, patients subjected to transplantation are administered immunosuppressive drugs to prevent recognition of the foreign transplant by their immune system and its subsequent rejection. The ability to clonally derive tissues and organs from the patients' own cells would abolish the need for immunosuppressive drugs and would allow the patients to live a life without the potentially serious side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs. More importantly, the ability to clonally derive organs would alleviate the current shortage of transplants and would possibly reduce waiting times for transplants to become available

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