You have heard of a research laboratory that is investigating using therapeutic cloning techniques to treat Parkinson disease (a disease caused by the destruction of dopamine-producing cells in the brain)
What is therapeutic cloning and how could it be used to treat Parkinson disease? What are the potential benefits of therapeutic cloning compared to other techniques? What are the ethical considerations associated with therapeutic cloning?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: Therapeutic cloning is the use of embryonic or induced pluripotent stem cells that are genetically matched to a patient to replace defective cells in human patients. For the treatment of Parkinson disease, genetically matched stem cells could be used to create new tissue to replace the defective cells in the brain. One benefit of therapeutic cloning is that the cells would genetically match the patient, reducing the risk of immunological rejection. In addition, stem cells can be induced to become many different kinds of cells and have the potential to be useful in the treatment of many diseases. Embryonic stem cells are the most promising type of stem cell for therapeutic cloning; however, in order to harvest them a human embryo must be destroyed. Induced pluripotent stem cells are cells taken from differentiated cells and converted back into stem cells. The cells may be more limited than embryonic stem cells due to the fact that they are derived from adult cells that contain methylated DNA and that method may produce cells more likely to become cancerous.
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a. remain balanced b. decrease c. remain stable d. rise e. keep pace
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