On June 26, 2007,
International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCC), a California-based stem cell research company, announced that their lead scientist, Dr.
Elena Revazova, and her research team were the first to intentionally create human stem cells from unfertilized human eggs using parthenogenesis. The process may offer a way for creating stem cells that are genetically matched to a particular woman for the treatment of degenerative diseases that might affect her. In December 2007, Dr. Revazova and ISCC published an article[SUP]
[52][/SUP] illustrating a breakthrough in the use of parthenogenesis to produce human stem cells that are
homozygous in the
HLA region of
DNA. These stem cells are called HLA homozygous parthenogenetic human stem cells (hpSC-Hhom) and have unique characteristics that would allow derivatives of these cells to be implanted into millions of people without immune rejection.[SUP]
[53][/SUP] With proper selection of oocyte donors according to HLA
haplotype, it is possible to generate a bank of cell lines whose tissue derivatives, collectively, could be
MHC-matched with a significant number of individuals within the human population.
On August 2, 2007, after much independent investigation,
it was revealed that discredited South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk unknowingly produced the first human embryos resulting from parthenogenesis. Initially, Hwang claimed he and his team had extracted stem cells from cloned human embryos, a result later found to be fabricated. Further examination of the chromosomes of these cells show indicators of parthenogenesis in those extracted stem cells, similar to those found in the mice created by Tokyo scientists in 2004.
Although Hwang deceived the world about being the first to create artificially cloned human embryos, he did contribute a major breakthrough to stem cell research by creating human embryos using parthenogenesis.[SUP]
[54][/SUP] Although the truth about the results of Hwang's work was just discovered, those embryos were created by him and his team before February 2004, making Hwang the first, unknowingly, to perform the process of parthenogenesis to create a human embryo and
ultimately a human parthenogenetic stem cell line successfully.
