Re: new stem cell breakthrough

From: JacqMath@aol.com
Date: Wed Aug 16 2000 - 08:34:27 MDT


Damien Broderick wrote:
>
>Nice! Now the next trick will be to get the absolute best egg cells to
>start with. I mean the ones that have the really dynamite mitochondria.
>There is an enormous variation in mitochondrial efficiency, and specific
>mitochondrial lines have been closely correlated with life expectancy. So
>you find the best ones and put in an ideal mix of several top strains, and
>you've got the next FloJo.
>Or, in the case of the potential for tissue/organ replacement, you put in a
>new heart that is seen as yours by your immune system, but it runs at
>olympic athlete levels.

Since there would be some variation in the mitochondrial DNA is there any
possibility of an immune response against the foreign proteins in the
mitochondria? Cloning uses the process but the immune system develops with
the organism. Not so in the case of tissue engineering or organ replacement.
 How much differentiation would be possible before such a response was
elicited? And, I know this is a little off the subject, but has anyone done
any research into how we might be able to make a body accept foreign proteins
(due to somatic cell engineering)?



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