Therapeutic cloning: promises and issues

Advances in biotechnology necessitate both an understanding of scientific principles and ethical implications to be clinically applicable in medicine. In this regard, therapeutic cloning offers significant potential in regenerative medicine by circumventing immunorejection, and in the cure of genetic disorders when used in conjunction with gene therapy. Therapeutic cloning in the context of cell replacement therapy holds a huge potential for de novo organogenesis and the permanent treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and diabetes mellitus as shown by in vivo studies. Scientific roadblocks impeding advancement in therapeutic cloning are tumorigenicity, epigenetic reprogramming, mitochondrial heteroplasmy, interspecies pathogen transfer, low oocyte availability. Therapeutic cloning is also often tied to ethical considerations concerning the source, destruction and moral status of IVF embryos based on the argument of potential. Legislative and funding issues are also addressed. Future considerations would include a distinction between therapeutic and reproductive cloning in legislative formulations.