“Artificial human life could soon be grown from scratch in the lab, after scientists successfully created a mammal embryo using only stem cells,” reports The Daily Telegraph. This is a premature claim as it is based on a laboratory study using mouse stem cells. Stem cells are cells that have the potential to be transformed into specific and specialised cells, such as bone marrow or fat cells.
Rather than using a fertilised egg, researchers from Cambridge University artificially grew an embryo in a three-dimensional structure by combining two types of stem cells – those that would develop into an embryo and those that would normally develop into the placenta. They found that the arrangement of cell development was very similar to the development of a usual mouse embryo.
While the media described the possibility of artificially formed human life soon becoming a reality, this is very early-stage research. Aside from the strict regulations about embryo research, the technical challenges of developing artificially formed human life are immense.
Reports about artificially created “designer babies” remain the stuff of science fiction. A more down-to-earth implication of this research is that it may help provide more information about the early stages of pregnancy, which could eventually lead to new fertility treatments.
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Akdeniz University, Turkey.
The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council and was published in Science. The UK media reporting of the story was generally accurate, describing the methods used by the researchers in this exploratory lab study.
The Guardian reported: “Artificial mouse cells grown from outside the body in a blob of gel shown to morph into primitive embryos, roughly equivalent to one third of way through pregnancy”, making clear that this was a study carried out in mice and not humans.
This was a lab research on mice that aimed to mimic interactions in the development of an embryo by combining the early embryonic stem cells with the cells that form the placenta within a 3D scaffold to try to develop an artificial embryo. This scaffold is a gel that allowed the structure to grow in three dimensions
While these laboratory studies are good at discovering new biological processes and ways of mimicking them, it must be remembered that they are often – as in this case – very early-stage research that cannot yet be applied to humans. Laboratory research involving human embryos is strictly controlled and regulated.
The study looked at the development of mouse embryos combining embryonic stem cells and cells that form the placental tissue, rather than starting from a fertilised egg.
The researchers took mouse embryonic stem cells (ES cells) and trophoblast stem (TS) cells, which are cells that are used to develop the placenta in normal pregnancy, and put them in a scaffold in a gel culture that allowed them to develop together.
They found that as the cells multiplied, structures made from the ES and TS cells developed in the 3D scaffold.
Following the seven days, the TS cells, which will go on to become the placenta, grew in a separate section to the ES cells – which will form the embryo.
Of all the structures they created, 22% were made from both ES and TS cells, 61% from ES cells only and 17% from TS cells only.
The ES and TS cells developing together in a 3D scaffold arranged themselves into a structure very similar to a natural embryo.
The ES cells further split into two groups, one cluster called the mesoderm would normally go on to develop into the heart, bones and muscles. The other section would normally go on to develop into the brain, eyes and skin.
They found that the timing and spatial arrangement of the cell development was very similar to the development of a usual mouse embryo.
(NHS UK)