Aggregated News

The study in Nature Medicine provides the best evidence so far that the controversial technique could one day help people with the condition.

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre team say it is the first time animals have been successfully treated with their own cloned cells.

UK experts said the work was promising and exciting development.

No rejection

In Parkinson's disease, nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls muscle movement either die or become impaired.

Normally, these cells produce a vital chemical known as dopamine, which allows smooth, co-ordinated function of the body's muscles and movement.

This is an exciting development, as for the first time, we can see that it may be possible to create a person's own embryonic stem cells to potentially treat their Parkinson's
Dr Kieran Breen, Parkinson's Disease Society

In therapeutic cloning, the nucleus of a cell is inserted into an egg with the nucleus removed.

This cell then develops into an embryo from which stem cells can be harvested and used as a treatment.

In this study, stem cells were developed into dopamine-producing...