January 11, 2006

scientists react to Hwang investigation findings

The Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk was found to have fabricated findings in his research into human embryo cloning, which had the potential to provide sources of stem cells for use in treatments of disease.

Professor Harry Moore, Centre for Stem Cell Biology, Sheffield University, said:

“To avoid scientific fraud, research has to be conducted in a way that is as open and accountable as possible. The UK has an excellent record in the area of embryonic stem cell research and its governance and has more experience in this area than any other country.

“With the regulations and procedures put in place by bodies such as the HFEA, MRC and UK Stem Cell Bank, the eggs and embryos used and any cell lines produced are very closely audited and validated.

“The embryonic cell lines generated in our own Centre have been submitted to the UK Stem Cell Bank (6 cell lines) and are freely available to any other research group in the world to use in their investigation. I’m confident that major medical therapies will arise from stem cell research. Many cell lines have been produced without cloning.”

Chris Shaw, Neurologist, Institute of Psychiatry, said:

“There is huge disappointment amongst the community of patients who believed that Hwang’s work would soon lead to patient-specific stem cell therapy.

“Ian Wilmut, Paul De Souza, Richard Anderson and I intend to pursue our project to generate disease-specific stem cell lines in order to develop new drug treatments for motor neurone disease and other inherited disorders. The collaboration with Hwang has been cancelled before it started.

“While this news is a tragedy and a setback we believe that the goal of nuclear reprogramming is achievable and important. We have a very important challenge ahead of us and we intend to press on with our research.”

Professor Anne McLaren, Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, said:

“The news from S.Korea is very sad. Compared with scientific frauds that have been exposed in the past, this one has been exposed remarkably quickly. It did seem too good to be true! The impact on S.Korean science will be very much greater than any impact on stem cell research worldwide and future therapy.

“Many scientists were doubtful that stem cell lines made from cloned human embryos would ever be a realistic option for therapy – though eventually they may prove very valuable for research on serious conditions such as diabetes and motor neuron disease. Meantime, corneal damage is being repaired with eye stem cells, and clinical trials are already in progress to assess the effect of bone marrow stem cells on heart disease. Human embryonic stem cell lines are being derived from embryos generously donated by patients in IVF clinics, in this country and elsewhere, and research is proceeding slowly but steadily, following encouraging findings in animal models.”

Professor Malcolm Alison, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Queen Mary University of London, said:

“Today’s news from South Korea that Dr Hwang, or someone in his team, fabricated the data to claim that they were able therapeutically clone ES cells from normal skin cells donated by eleven patients beggars belief. If it had been true, the DNA of each ES cell line should have matched the DNA of the supposed donor – in each case it did not. DNA analysis these days is so routine that this fraud ranks almost as a schoolboy prank, much less sophisticated than the Piltdown man hoax of 1912/1913, where the fraud remained largely undetected for almost 40 years until the advent of reliable dating techniques.

“Bad as this news is, the success of cloning a variety of animals and the ‘proof of principle’ of being able to generate ES cells from human and animal blastocysts, will mean that this very important medical research will continue unabated.”

Dr Stephen Minger, Kings College London, said:

“All of us who admired Hwang are deeply saddened by this revelation. However, it is likely to have a minimal effect on stem cell biology per se and work in the field will continue. It is also important to remember that cloning and stem cells are different things, and that stem cell lines have been, and continue to be made without using nuclear transfer.”

Alison Murdoch, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Newcastle University and Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, said:

“It is regrettable that Professor Hwang’s recent work has been called into question and it is a major blow that human therapeutic cloning now looks to be much more of a challenge than his recent reports led us to believe.

“However, we believe therapeutic cloning promises important scientific developments which could lead to future treatments for a range of diseases. We are committed to continuing our research in this area as part of a broad portfolio of research into stem cell therapeutics.

“In particular, the Hwang investigation highlights how important it is that embryonic stem cell research is closely regulated for scientific and ethical reasons. We, like others in the UK working in this area, are quite rightly subject to what are probably the tightest controls in the world.

“Stem cell researchers have always expected this work to be difficult, and we predicted it would be many years before we were in a position to produce therapies derived from therapeutic cloning which could be used to treat patients. In Newcastle, we made some progress last year when we reported in a scientific journal the creation of an early-stage cloned human embryo but this was a small step forward in a long journey.”

Dr Simon Best, Chairman of the BioIndustry Association and Chairman of Ardana, said:

“This is disappointing news. However, there remains a huge need for new and better treatments for degenerative diseases and this in no way diminishes the potential of stem-cell technology to provide these. The news does reinforce the UK’s leadership in all aspects of this important work. This is something we should be proud of and continue to support strongly.”

Dr Jess Buxton, Progress Educational Trust, said:

“Scientific fraud is shocking precisely because it is so unusual. The finding that Hwang faked data is very sad, but the truth has been discovered quickly enough to minimise damage to this very promising field of research.

“Hopefully other embryo stem cell scientists around the world will continue to get the funding and public support they need to carry out this vital work. It is also crucial that the potential of stem cell research is conveyed accurately, without raising false hopes.”

Colin.McGuckin, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, Centre for Life Medical School, Newcastle University, said:

“We are not in show business but the need to be famous is also not new to science. The Hwang situation is sad, but it should not detract from the amazing potential that stem cells – particularly adult stem cells – have to treat human disease. We need to refocus now on the type of stem cell science that really can help people in the short term. For Korea, this is a blow to their reputation, but Hwang was only one group and the work Korea is doing on cord blood stem cells may yet be helpful to society.”

A summary of the final report by the Seoul National University can be found on their website: www.useoul.edu