克隆先锋首要目标是攻克人类绝症

South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said Wednesday he plans to open a stem cell bank by the end of the year to help speed up the quest to grow replacement tissue to treat diseases.

　　The bank would consolidate current stem cell lines in one research location. To treat a patient, researchers would look for a cell line that provides a close match to a patient's immune system, Hwang said in an interview with The Associated Press. It would resemble the process now used in finding donors for organ transplants.

　　"We hope to open a world stem cell bank, as early as this year, in Korea," Hwang said. "We will start with what we have, offering them to those patients who sincerely want them for the right reasons."

　　Hwang said he was willing to eventually put the bank under the management of an international agency.

　　"But, it would mean that South Korea is taking the initiative in fighting human disease," he said.

　　Hwang and his researchers at Seoul National University created the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients, work that was published in the journal Science last month. That came just a year after his team shocked the world by cloning a human embryo.

　　The match means the stem cells, the building blocks of all bodily tissues, are unlikely to be rejected by the body's immune system. Researchers hope the cells can be used to repair damage caused by ailments such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes or a genetic immune disease.

　　Hwang now wants to move his research into making embryonic stem cells grow into specific organs and tissues.

　　The publication of Hwang's work has made him one of South Korea's busiest and the most celebrated figures, his image gracing newspaper articles and television shows almost daily. His team is notorious for working long hours without weekends or holidays and even sleeping in the lab, but late Wednesday afternoon he found time to talk with a reporter about his project's current status and long-term goals.

　　Hwang's work is at the center of an international controversy over whether to ban all forms of human cloning or to allow it for medical research — known as therapeutic cloning — which South Korea has committed by law to pursue.

　　Culling stem cells destroys the days-old embryo harboring them, regardless of whether it was cloned or left over in a fertility clinic. Opponents, including President Bush, argue that is the same as destroying life. He has banned federal funding for research on all but a handful of old embryonic stem-cell lines.

　　Hwang knows he's treading on sensitive territory and rebutted critics who say he is destroying life.

　　"What we are doing is not creating embryos. An embryo, basically supposes a birth of a life. But we have no intention or goals whatsoever to create life," said Hwang. "When the genetic material is removed from human egg, it becomes a vacant egg shell, I would like to call it that. "

　　Ultimately, though, Hwang said he was a scientist and not a politician.

　　"Our ultimate goal is for those with incurable disease to lead social lives, and to recover their humane right to happiness."

克隆先锋首要目标是攻克人类绝症

　　日前，在韩国首都汉城，世界克隆先锋黄武树先生表示，计划在今年年底之前建立一座干细胞银行，以此来满足医疗领域逐渐增长的对于器官移植的需求。

　　据MSNBC网站6月1日报道，在一次接受美联社的采访中，黄武树先生表示，未来将会建成的细胞银行将会把当前的干细胞线统一起来进行研究和管理。而在对患者进行治疗之前，研究人员需要在银行中寻找符合患者免疫系统的细胞线。这种做法与当前在器官移植领域的运作步骤大致相似。黄武树说：“我们希望在今年之内尽快建立一家世界干细胞银行，我们将会以现有的基础为起步，为那些真正需要干细胞的患者提供他们所需要的。”

　　黄武树还指出，另一方面，在干细胞银行发展成熟之后，他最终将会把实际的管理权移交给国际代理机构，“不过，银行的建立仍然表明了韩国战胜人类疾病的积极态度” 。

　　黄武树和他在汉城国际大学的研究小组曾经成功地培育了世界上第1个在基因方面匹配受伤和虚弱病人的胚胎干细胞，这一令人振奋的成果也被登载在上月出版的《科学》杂志上。一年之前，黄武树和他的科研小组就曾经以成功克隆人类胚胎而震惊了整个世界。

　　胚胎干细胞对于虚弱病人基因的匹配意味着，作为人体所有组织构成部件的干细胞将不会被人体免疫系统所抵触。研究人员寄希望于这些培育出来的干细胞可以帮助患者自动修复身体中的被损伤部分，如由脊髓损伤、糖尿病或者基因免疫系统疾病引起的损害。据黄武树透露，他正准备把研究的下一个重点转移到利用胚胎干细胞培育特定器官和组织方面。

　　黄武树目前已成为了韩国最忙碌也是最热门的人物之一。他的照片频频出现在韩国各大报纸上，并且也为了电视节目中的常客。他的研究小组一直都以超负荷的工作量而闻名。据悉，他的工作人员不但没有周末和节假日，连晚上都是睡在实验室中。

　　同时，黄武树的工作也成为了国际上有关克隆问题的争论焦点：是否应该禁止一切用途的人类克隆行为？还是允许这种克隆技术应用于医疗手段，即所谓的治疗性克隆。报道说，在韩国国内，医疗性克隆已经通过相关的法律。

　　一般来讲，无论是被克隆还是被转移到其他环境中，挑选干细胞线将会自动破坏曾经养育它的胚胎。而干细胞克隆技术的反对者，包括美国总统布什则表示，这属于一种对生命的毁灭行为。因此，除了一小部分的胚胎干细胞线研究外，目前为止布什已经禁止了一切有关此项研究的联邦基金。

　　实际上黄武树明白自己触及到了一个十分敏感的领域，自己也经受了一些严厉的批评。他说：“我们正在从事的工作并不是创造胚胎。胚胎是支撑一切生命的基础，我们并没有任何创造生命的企图。”黄武树还表示。“如果把人类胚胎中的基因材质去掉，那么这些胚胎将只是一个空壳，而这才是我们所作的。”

　　黄武树指出，他自己是一个完完全全的科学家，而不是一个政治家，“我们的最终目标是攻克那些至今为止人类束手无策的绝症，并且让更多的患者重新拥有享受幸福的权利”。