Scientists Grow Sheep Embryos Containing Human Cells (theguardian.com) 51
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists say growing human organs inside animals could not only increase supply, but also offer the possibility of genetically tailoring the organs to be compatible with the immune system of the patient receiving them, by using the patient's own cells in the procedure, removing the possibility of rejection. "Even today the best matched organs, except if they come from identical twins, don't last very long because with time the immune system continuously is attacking them," said Dr Pablo Ross from the University of California, Davis, who is part of the team working towards growing human organs in other species. Ross added that if it does become possible to grow human organs inside other species, it might be that organ transplants become a possibility beyond critical conditions.
Ross and colleagues have recently reported a major breakthrough for our own species, revealing they were able to introduce human stem cells into early pig embryos, producing embryos for which about one in every 100,000 cells were human. These chimeras -- a term adopted from Greek mythology -- were only allowed to develop for 28 days. Now, at this week's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas, the team have announced that they have managed a similar feat with sheep embryos, achieving an even higher ratio of human to animal cells. "About one in 10,000 cells in these sheep embryos are human," said Ross. The team are currently allowed to let the chimeric embryos develop for 28 days, 21 of which are in the sheep. While that might be sufficient to see the development of the missing organ when human cells are eventually combined with the genetically modified embryo, Dr Hiro Nakauchi of Stanford University, who is part of the team, said a longer experiment, perhaps up to 70 days, would be more convincing, although that would require additional permission from institutional review boards.
Ross and colleagues have recently reported a major breakthrough for our own species, revealing they were able to introduce human stem cells into early pig embryos, producing embryos for which about one in every 100,000 cells were human. These chimeras -- a term adopted from Greek mythology -- were only allowed to develop for 28 days. Now, at this week's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas, the team have announced that they have managed a similar feat with sheep embryos, achieving an even higher ratio of human to animal cells. "About one in 10,000 cells in these sheep embryos are human," said Ross. The team are currently allowed to let the chimeric embryos develop for 28 days, 21 of which are in the sheep. While that might be sufficient to see the development of the missing organ when human cells are eventually combined with the genetically modified embryo, Dr Hiro Nakauchi of Stanford University, who is part of the team, said a longer experiment, perhaps up to 70 days, would be more convincing, although that would require additional permission from institutional review boards.
Sheeples (Score:2)
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WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
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That's baaaaaaad.
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I will get an extremely high paying job, and then use it as a cover to implement a Logan's Run type society where old people are 'retired.'
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.
Although, now that the Obama "recovery" is over, you might be able to get some of Trump's CRUMBS!!!
Re:Just like today's college students? (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, I'd like fries with that. Thanks.
That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)
That's nothing... Back home in Britain the Welsh have been combining human and sheep DNA for centuries.
Re: That's nothing... (Score:2)
The joke is that combination was so loved that England made them Kinga and queens.
Hence the Welsh got the last lyygh.
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That's nothing... Back home in Britain the Welsh have been combining human and sheep DNA for centuries.
Sheepboy says "Thaaaat's my daaaaad!"
Re:That's nothing... (Score:4)
The Arabs invented the condom in 700 BC, using a goat's lower intestine. In 1873 the British somewhat refined the idea by taking the intestine out of the goat first.
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We've seen how that story [imdb.com] ends.
As the punchline goes (Score:3)
The anti abortion crowd is (Score:2)
going to go nuts over this.
How many cells does it take to make a human?
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
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going to go nuts over this.
Let them go nuts. We'll just mix up the DNA of an ornery crazy-ass Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep with the DNA of Conor McGregor, and set that monstrosity loose on the the anti abortion crowd.
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That brings up another good point.
If we slaughter the animals for food, is it considered cannibalism?
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going to go nuts over this ... snipsnip ....
I'd prefer a curry mint sauce.
Problem, lambs now play video games all day (Score:2)
Incredibly dangerous, should be regulated (Score:1)
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It seems incredible to me that this was done without public comment and regulation.
This is extremely dangerous. First, it's a potential vector for diseases to jump inter-species.
Second, it's a way to grow more unquestioning trump supporters.
I fail to understand the logic behind your two assumptions.
Please, entertain us and explain yourself.
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every year a flu or two or three jumps inter-species to humans. humans get bit by animals and get rabies. my my diseases have been jumping species to primates since the dawn of primates! too bad you weren't there when we could have stayed tree shrews!
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The planet of the sheep (Score:1)
Shotgun Approach (Score:1)
While not trying to be dismissive, it's unclear that this would ever be a viable approach. It's really just a shotgun approach: put human cells in an early stage sheep blastocyst, and human cells are scattered throughout the tissues of the embryo. There's no selective approach to trying to only grow a heart from human cells, for instance. This means that the organ will still contain sheep cells, and therefore have the possibility of being rejected by the transplant recipient's body. Their work with mouse-ra
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IFAIKT the interesting part here is that the immune system didn't reject them. OTOH, since it's only 28 days in the embryo, of which only 21 are within the sheep, this may not prove much. (I'm not sure when embryo cells start making it through the placental barrier.)
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Embryos don't have immune systems. They use the mother's immune system. You'd have to wait post partum to see if there are markers of increased immune activity, particularly at the chimeric organs, as well as general markers of immune hyperactivity. One approach for such animals would be to remove MHC genes so that the animal doesn't recognize the chimeric organs as "non-self". (It's more complicated, but I'd be interested in seeing how this might play out.)
I'll get my coat (Score:2)
"So I guess they really did find the cock for Dolly"
--
BMO
28 Days Later (Score:2)
This is how it all starts...
Calling Doctor Moreau... (Score:2)
All ba(aaa)d jokes aside, some of this kind of research should really squick everyone out.