US scientists are claiming to have cloned six calves whose cells show signs of lasting much longer, and dividing more often, than even those of animals conceived naturally. The scientists believe they may hold the key to treatment of heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.



?We now know that we can generate young, healthy cells that could treat a long list of diseases caused by tissue loss or dysfunction, including heart disease, diabetes, and Parkinson’s,? said Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technologies . ?We could seed heart cells onto a biodegradable scaffold and grow them to a substantial size. That could then be used to fix a heart like you fix the tyre of a bicycle.? This, said Lanza, could lead to patients with the degenerative diseases of old age could be treated with young versions of their own tissue, cultivated in laboratory dishes. All healthy cells divide a certain number of times, and then die, setting an ultimate limit to the life of the animal itself. The number of divisions seems to be linked with caps on the ends of the chromosomes called telomeres, which reduce with each division. Dolly the Sheep?s cells, taken from a six-year-old sheep, started prematurely old. But the telomeres of the cloned calves were significantly longer than those of normal cattle of the same age. The cells also showed high levels of a gene called EPC-1, normally found only in young cells.The implications for agriculture, for the study of ageing and for new medical breakthroughs, such as tissue engineering and stem cell therapy, could be startling. It could mean cloned farm animals with 50% longer lifespans. Linked with a separate approach, called embryo stem cell therapy, or therapeutic cloning, it could also raise new hopes of longer, healthier lives for millions. There are 16m patients, worldwide, with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s, and in the US alone, there are 64,000 patients waiting for organ transplants. ?You might be able to use this technology now,? said Lanza, ?and generate healthy neurones. A disease such as Parkinson’s almost immediately lends itself to this kind of therapy. You would be able to generate those cells that you were looking for in such a way that you wouldn’t need to worry about immune rejection?. In the longer term, and with more research, there might be even more dramatic possibilities. ?You could even see a cure here for Aids. This technology will permit us to go back and reconstitute an entire immune system with cells that might be resistant to the Aids virus.?