New research shows, for the first time, that cloned cells can cure Parkinson's disease in animals.
Therapeutic cloning went one step further towards becoming a reality with a new report from researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. They showed that they can turn stem cells from a lab mouse's tail into functioning neurons that produce dopamine.

When they transplanted these cells into lab rat models of Parkinson's disease, they were able to cure the condition. This is notable for being the fist time that cloned cells have cured disease in an animal model. The stem cells have been subjected to a technique that eliminates variability that, in previous work, meant that the experiment did not work for each animal. The study produced neurons of many different types and showed how the cloning process closely mimics normal brain development.

Dopamine producing cells are lost in Parkinson's disease and this is what produces the movement abnormalities typical of the condition. With this new study, the possibility of using brain repair to help such patients, by transplanting cloned cells, comes a bit closer to reality.