Advanced Cell Technology Researchers Create Embryonic Stem Cells Using Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, Company Says

Worcester, Mass.-based Advanced Cell Technology on Friday in a statement announced that it has created human embryonic stem cells using preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Reuters reports (Fox, Reuters, 6/22).

Robert Lanza, medical director of ACT, and colleagues in the Aug. 24 edition of the journal Nature described a technique that could derive embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. The technique was described as removing a single cell -- known as a blastomere -- from a three-day-old embryo with eight to 10 cells and using a biochemical process to create embryonic stem cells from the blastomere.

Researchers removed 91 blastomeres from 16 thawed embryos donated by fertility clinic patients and found that more than half of the blastomeres began to multiply and that in two cases the blastomeres became embryonic stem cells. The method of removing a cell from the embryo is based on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, which usually is used to test the cell for genetic deficiencies. At the time the Nature article was published, Lanza said that the research destroyed some of the embryos used but that single-cell extractions that leave the embryo unharmed should be feasible in the future. Nature in its Nov. 23 edition added itemized changes and an addendum to a study that included a clarification that Lanza and colleagues destroyed the embryos they used in the study (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 11/27/06).

Lanza last week at the fifth annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Cairns, Australia, said that his team had created new embryonic stem cell lines using single cells removed from three separate embryos. "These embryos remain frozen," Lanza said, adding, "They are still alive." He also said, "These are the first human embryonic cell lines in existence that didn't result from the destruction of an embryo" (Reuters, 6/22).

William Caldwell, chair and CEO of ACT, said the company's "single cell blastomere technology directly addresses" the "ethical concerns" cited by President Bush when he vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He added that the company is calling on NIH to approve ACT's applications to fund the technology (ACT release, 6/21). Lanza said he plans to publish his recent research in a medical journal (Reuters, 6/22).


Bloomberg Television's "On the Economy," on Wednesday interviewed with Caldwell on Bush's veto and ACT's research. The interview is available online on ACT's Web site (Hays, "On the Economy," Bloomberg Television, 6/20).

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