5-Animals: Cows born with human DNA

[GENET <genetnl@xs4all.be>]

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                                  PART I
-------------------------------- GENET-news --------------------------------

TITLE:  Cows born with human DNA
SOURCE: British Broadcasting Corporation, UK, by Helen Briggs
        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/2183200.stm
DATE:   Aug 12, 2002

------------------ archive: http://www.gene.ch/genet.html ------------------


Cows born with human DNA

Yoon and her sisters - the cloned cows that may provide new drugs

Cloned calves that produce human antibodies in their blood have been born 
in the United States. The four cows have extra DNA which contains the genes 
for the part of the human immune system that makes disease-fighting 
antibodies. Scientists believe cows could eventually be used to produce 
medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, infections and even cancer. Human 
antibodies have been produced in mice before, but cattle are bigger and 
make more of them. The work was carried out by researchers in the United 
States led by animal cloning pioneer James Robl. The former Professor at 
the University of Massachusetts was the first to clone a transgenic cow in 
1998.


New drugs

He is now President of Hematech in Westport, Connecticut, a biotechnology 
firm set up to manufacture human antibodies in cattle. Dr Robl told BBC 
News Online: "The antibodies that we produce consist of a large collection 
of different types that will be particularly useful for killing infectious 
disease agents." He says they are quite optimistic about the chance of 
cloned cows providing a new source of human antibody therapeutics. "We 
believe that by successfully transferring the antibody genes into cows we 
have overcome one of the most difficult challenges in the project."

Yann Echelard, an animal cloning expert at Genzyme Transgenics Corporation, 
Massachusetts, says the cloned cows could eventually have important medical 
applications. "The cows have a human immune system," he told BBC News 
Online. "You can immunise them, collect their blood, get the antibodies 
out, purify them and give them to patients."


'First step'

Antibodies are used for the treatment of many human diseases including 
immune deficiencies, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders. They 
have to be extracted from blood donations and are in short supply. But 
several hurdles must be overcome before human antibodies from cows could 
reach the hospital. Scientists have to find a way to purify the human 
antibodies and make sure they are free of harmful viruses. "This is an 
important step but it is a first step in a process that will go on for 
years before there is a medicine available to the general public," said Dr 
Echelard.


Artificial chromosome

The existence of the four cloned cattle is revealed in the journal Nature 
Biotechnology. The first calf, Yoon, was born last November. She was named 
after a graduate student who spent many nights looking after the animals. 
About 20 similar cloned cows have been born since then. The calves are 
known as transchromosomic. Unlike other cows they have an extra synthetic 
chromosome - one of the bundles of DNA and protein that carries genetic 
information. An artificial chromosome has been put into the animals to 
carry human immune system genes.


                                  PART II
-------------------------------- GENET-news --------------------------------

TITLE:  Japan set to lift ban on beef, milk from cloned cows
SOURCE: Kyodo News, Japan
        http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=226417
DATE:   Aug 14, 2002

------------------ archive: http://www.gene.ch/genet.html ------------------


Japan set to lift ban on beef, milk from cloned cows

TOKYO Ñ The farm ministry said Wednesday beef and milk from cows cloned 
from the cells of adult animals are safe, signaling Japan may lift a ban on 
their consumption in the near future. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry 
and Fisheries said its recent study found cloned cows' blood, meat and milk 
nearly identical to those of naturally born cows and rats fed these 
substances developed no irregularities. The announcement, following a 
similar conclusion by the health ministry in June 2000, could pave the way 
for Japan to become the world's first country to allow the consumption of 
cows cloned from the cells of adult animals. The cows in question were 
cloned by transferring the nuclei of cells from adult animals into cow eggs 
from which the nuclei were removed. The same cloning technique was used to 
produce Dolly the sheep in 1996. Cows cloned from fertilized eggs through 
artificial fertilization have been allowed for consumption in Japan since 
1999 but no country allows the consumption of cows cloned from the cells of 
adult animals due to the high rate of defects in the clones.



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