November 12, 1998 Human Cells Revert to Embryo State, Scientists
Assert By NICHOLAS WADE Venturing deep into uncharted realms of
ethics and medicine, a small biotechnology company said
Wednesday that its scientists had for the first time made human
cells revert to the primordial, embryonic state from which all
other cells develop, by fusing them with cow eggs and creating a
hybrid cell. The research comes from biologists who are well
known in their field, but has yet to be confirmed or even
published in a scientific journal. Their company, Advanced Cell
Technology of Worcester, Mass., said the method could eventually
be used to grow replacement body tissues of any kind from a
patient's own cells, sidestepping the increasing scarcity of
organs available for transplant and the problems of immune
rejection. The technique is likely to concern and perplex
ethicists because it involves the creation of an embryonic cell
that is part human and part cow, consisting of a human cell's
nucleus inside a cow egg whose own