In this blog post, we will look at how nuclear replacement technology can replace or reduce animal testing and save human lives at the same time.
When did the interest in cloning begin? Was it the desire to solve organ damage or the search for a being that could replace human labor? The exact beginning is unknown, but the moment when the concept of cloning came to be a reality rather than a science fiction imagination was probably when the first successful animal cloning took place. In early 1997, Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh created Dolly, the world’s first cloned animal. This process used nuclear transfer technology. The cloning process of Dolly is done by fusing the nucleus of an adult sheep with another sheep’s egg and implanting it into the uterus of a surrogate mother. This process seemed simple, but in reality it was complicated and the success rate was very low. Of the 277 fusion attempts made to create Dolly, only one resulted in a successful birth. The birth of Dolly shocked the world, and the possibility of nuclear replacement technology and cloning attracted great public interest.
Nuclear replacement technology can also be used for various purposes other than cloning. For example, there is a plan to treat people with genetic diseases that lack certain immune proteins by replacing their hematopoietic stem cells with normal cells. In addition, it is possible to obtain improved animal individuals by cloning animals after modifying their genes. There are many ethical and legal issues with the application of nuclear replacement technology to humans, and there is a lot of opposition, but the application to animals is mixed. The opposition is concerned about the reduction of genetic diversity and animal suffering, while the proponents argue that it improves the efficiency of new drug testing and is helpful for organ transplants. Considering the current medical needs, I can support the use of nuclear replacement technology for medical purposes on animals.
First, nuclear replacement technology enables the mass production of substances needed by the human body through animals. The organs of pigs are very similar to those of humans, so they have great potential as organs for transplantation. However, in order to transplant pig organs into humans, it is necessary to suppress the immune response. If the genes of pigs are modified using nuclear replacement technology to make them resistant to the human immune system, transplantable organs can be obtained. In this way, nuclear replacement technology can also be used to treat hemophilia, which is caused by a lack of coagulation factor IX. The gene that produces the coagulation factor can be replaced with an animal gene, and the required coagulation factor can be extracted from the milk of that animal.
Second, nuclear transplantation technology enables more precise experiments. Although rabbits with similar immune systems are mainly used in drug testing, there are differences in the responses of each individual. Nuclear transplantation allows for the creation of multiple rabbits with the same genetic characteristics, which can lead to more consistent data and more accurate experimental results. When testing with cloned individuals with the same characteristics, the number of animals required can also be reduced.
Finally, it can minimize damage to the ecosystem. For example, horseshoe crabs provide special blood used for endotoxin testing, but many individuals die or suffer from aftereffects each year during the blood collection process. Producing cloned horseshoe crabs using nuclear replacement technology can secure the resources needed for experiments while protecting the horseshoe crab population in the natural ecosystem. In addition, increasing the blood production of horseshoe crabs through genetic manipulation and creating resilient individuals can reduce the suffering of horseshoe crabs.
Despite these advantages, opponents of using nuclear replacement technology for medical purposes will still cite the sacrifice of animals. However, when human life is at stake, it is difficult to prioritize the lives of animals over humans. If the only way to save a family member or yourself is with organs from cloned animals, there would be no choice even if there were concerns about the suffering of the animals. Nuclear replacement technology could be a way to reduce animal suffering in experiments. For example, we could consider creating a modified organism that increases the number of pig organs, thereby reducing the number of pigs needed for organ transplantation.
In conclusion, we are in favor of using nuclear transposition technology on animals for medical purposes, but this is not an unconditional approval. We must consider the suffering of animals and develop the technology in accordance with the 3Rs principle (replacement, reduction, and refinement) of animal testing. Efforts to reduce animal sacrifice must continue, including stem cell research and the development of endotoxin testing technology to replace the blood of horseshoe crabs. Although current technology cannot completely replace animal testing, the development of technology to solve these problems must continue.
