Evidence of a Pluripotent Human Embryonic Stem Cell Line Derived from a Cloned Blastocyst

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technology has recently been used to generate animals with a common genetic composition. In this study, we report the derivation of a pluripotent embryonic stem cell line (SCNT-hES-1) from a cloned human blastocyst. SCNT-hES-1 cells display typical ES cell morphology and cell surface markers and are capable of differentiating into embryoid bodies in vitro and of forming teratomas in vivo containing cell derivatives from all three embryonic germ layers in SCID mice. After continuous proliferation for >70 passages, SCNT-hES-1 cells maintain normal karyotypes and are genetically identical to the somatic nuclear donor cells. Although we cannot completely exclude the possibility of a parthenogenetic origin of the cells, imprinting analyses provide support that the derived human ES cells have a somatic cell nuclear transfer origin.