Scientists Report Cloning Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Jan 17, 09:20 PM

AlphaMed's journal, Stem Cells, published the paper Thursday, describing a private California laboratory's production of embryonic stem cells that one day could be used to replace human tissues damaged or killed by disease. Such a cloning would be a first.

The paper could help Stem Cells, a respected but relatively obscure journal, make a big leap in profile and prestige. It also could bring notoriety should the veracity of the research come under question by a scientific community increasingly leery of cloning research.

Indeed, while response to the Stem Cells paper Thursday was swift, it was also mixed. Some scientists questioned whether the results were bona fide and others wondered how far the achievement advances stem cell medicine. Critics noted that the research team at Stemagen, the California lab, did not use its cloned embryos to create the cell lines needed to actually develop treatments.

Ann Murphy, AlphaMed's owner and president, said the journal's editors and advisory board are only too familiar with the minefield they stepped into by accepting the paper by Andrew French and colleagues at Stemagen.

The entire field of stem cell research suffered a major hit to its credibility in 2006 after a South Korean scientist who had claimed to have done what Stemagen now reports was discredited and his work declared fraudulent. The journal Science, one of the oldest and most respected, was forced to retract the scientist's paper.

The debacle has made researchers, reporters and lay people more skeptical.

Murphy said Stem Cells' editors were comfortable publishing the French paper because it cleared a months-long process of peer review. The journal's editors and reviewers demanded more data to support the truth of the authors' claims and they required several revisions before giving the paper the green light.

"They put us through the wringer," said Roman Jimenez, a spokesman for Stemagen.

Jimenez said Stemagen submitted its research to Stem Cells precisely because the company wanted a thorough and critical vetting. The authors did not submit to any other journals.

Stem Cells, while young for a scholarly journal at 26 years old, is the oldest publication dedicated to stem cell and regenerative medicine. Its editorial board includes scores of leading scientists, including some of the biggest names in the field. Dr. Donald Metcalf, the Australian physiologist who is regarded as a father of modern stem cell research, is a top editorial adviser. Dr. Miodrag Stojkovic, whose research lab in 2005 produced cloned embryos using cells from discarded embryos from in vitro fertilization procedures, is the journal's current co-editor.

"Because this advance was going to be met with some level of scrutiny we wanted it to be published in the pre-eminent stem cell publication," Jimenez said.

While Stem Cells is respected and well-known to scientists involved in cell biology, it is relatively unknown outside that group, leaving some to ask how a relative upstart beat out more established journals such as Nature or Science, which have both been publishing since the 1800s.

"You have to think that this group of researchers would have tried to get published in one of the bigger journals," said Dr. Eugene Oddone, vice dean for research at Duke University School of Medicine.

Oddone, who helps scientists looking to publish research target journals where they are likely to make the biggest splash, is not familiar with Stem Cells. He said Stem Cells in the bottom third of scholarly publications for impact, according to a service that rates journals based on how frequently articles published in them are cited by other researchers. But Oddone noted that few niche journals rank as highly as general publications such as The New England Journal of Medicine, and Stem Cells ranks among the most-cited journals in cell biology.

The cloning paper will make a difference, Oddone predicted.

"This is obviously going to be a cited paper," he said.

While the cloning paper is AlphaMed Press's first foray into soliciting media coverage of its content, it won't be the last. The press last year recruited a new operations director whose duties include building a media program to disseminate AlphaMed's content more widely. The cloning paper was the first likely candidate, said Murphy, the owner.

"What a way to get started," she said.

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