X-Message-Number: 13657
From: "John Clark" <>
Subject: Clones and Telomeres
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 10:03:16 -0400


In today's issue of the journal "Science" Dr. Robert P Lanza reports that clones
made from old cows should live at least as long as regular cows, using several

standard measures of cellular aging he found they're made of cells that act more

youthfully than normal cows of their age. He even found the clones have 
telomeres

that are slightly longer than average. Dr. Lanza says his cloned cows "could be 
the

longest lived cows on the planet". He also reports that in studies of serially 
cloned

mice a trend toward lengthening of the telomere has also been found. Apparently 
if

Dolly the sheep's telomeres really are shorter than normal it must be an 
abnormality

of some sort rather than a fundamental flaw in the cloning process. Michael West
of

Advanced Cell Technology says this is all very good news as he is trying very 
hard

to use a variation of the technique to make spare parts for people and wouldn't 
want
them to ware out before the rest of the body.


More good news, in the same issue of Science the first unequivocal success in 
using

gene therapy to cure a patient was reported. Dr. Alain Fischer treated two 
babies who

had a lethal hereditary disease called SCID, 10 months after the treatment none 
of

his tests could find any difference between his patients and normal healthy 
children.

       John K Clark       

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