New technique to harvest stem cell

Embryos near the very beginning of development can yield stem cells for therapeutic applications without being destroyed in the process, research has shown.

The discovery raises the prospect of overcoming many of the ethical objections to working with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).

Stem cells from human embryos have the ability to develop into virtually any part of the body.

Potentially they could be used to treat a host of disorders, including currently incurable diseases such as type 1 diabetes and Parkinson's. But many people cannot accept the fact that to harvest the cells embryos have to be destroyed.

To date stem cells have been obtained from five-day-old embryos called blastocysts consisting of around 100 cells. The cells are strongly bonded together so the embryo has to be broken apart.

The new development reported on Wednesday at a fertility conference in Spain suggests that stem cells can be removed from much earlier stage embryos which are easier to manipulate without causing harm.

A team of scientists led by Dr Hilde Van de Velde, from Vrije University in Brussels, derived a line of hESCs from embryos made up of just four cells.

Embryos at this stage - just 48 hours after fertilisation - can lose one of their cells and still retain the ability to implant in the womb.

Dr Van de Velde said : "We understand that some people may have ethical concerns about the production of hESCs. We believe that by making it possible to intervene at an earlier stage, and without destruction of the embryo, these ethical concerns will be diminished."

The next stage in the research will be to determine whether removing one cell from a four-cell embryo impairs its ability to develop into a healthy child, she said. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Eshre) in Barcelona.

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