Ying CHEN1,2 ,Zhi Xu HE3, Ailian LIU1,2, Kai WANG1,2, Wen Wei MAO1,2,Jian Xin CHU1,2, Yong LU1,2, Zheng Fu FANG1,2, Ying Tang SHI1,2, Qing Zhang YANG1,2, Da Yuan CHEN4, Min Kang WANG4, Jin Song LI4, Shao Liang HUANG3, Xiang Yin KONG5, Yao Zhou SHI5, Zhi Qiang WANG5, Jia Hui XIA6, Zhi Gao LONG6, Zhi Gang XUE6, Wen Xiang DING7, Hui Zhen SHENG1,2*

PDF file: http://www.cell-research.com/20034/034-chzb.pdf

ABSTRACT
   To solve the problem of immune incompatibility, nuclear transplantation has been envisaged as a means to produce cells or tissues for human autologous transplantation. Here we have derived embryonic stem cells by the transfer of human somatic nuclei into rabbit oocytes. The number of blastocysts that developed from the fused nuclear transfer was comparable among nuclear donors at ages of 5, 42, 52 and 60 years, and nuclear transfer (NT) embryonic stem cells (ntES cells) were subsequently derived from each of the four age groups. These results suggest that human somatic nuclei can form ntES cells independent of the age of the donor. The derived ntES cells are human based on karyotype, isogenicity, in situ hybridization, PCR and immunocytochemistry with probes that distinguish between the various species. The ntES cells maintain the capability of sustained growth in an undifferentiated state, and form embryoid bodies, which, on further induction, give rise to cell types such as neuron and muscle, as well as mixed cell populations that express markers representative of all three germ layers. Thus, ntES cells derived from human somatic cells by NT to rabbit eggs retain phenotypes similar to those of conventional human ES cells, including the ability to undergo multilineage cellular differentiation.