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Discredited stem cell scientist Professor Hwang Woo-suk (see previous news story) may have inadvertently made a remarkable breakthrough in stem cell research. The rise and fall of the Korean scientist has been well documented, and this latest twist is the result of research by experts at Harvard and Cambridge Universities.

A team of researchers led by George Daley of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute analyzed embryonic stem (ES) cells created by Hwang’s team and found that some of the cells actually derived from human eggs stimulated to undergo parthenogenesis, not somatic cell nuclear transfer as Hwang had claimed. Parthenogenesis occurs when eggs are stimulated to develop into early-stage embryos without being fertilised by sperm. This can happen spontaneously in humans but the defective embryos rapidly die.

Producing stem cells by parthenogenesis has been the goal of many scientists as it would be the first step in the creation of human tissues genetically identical to the egg donor. This would allow the cells to be used in the replacement of organ tissues to treat serious diseases without the problems of tissue rejection by the recipient’s immune system. In addition, the creation of stem cells from eggs rather than fertilised embryos is often regarded as less ethically problematic.

Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the authors of this study note that: “If careful genetic and functional analyses of tissues derived from human pES cells show them to be safe and effective, then pES cells might represent a favorable source for tissue replacement therapies” [Kim et al., Cell Stem Cell (2007), doi:10.1016/j.stem.2007.07.001].