• Question: Can cloning help create organs that people’s bodies won’t reject?

    Asked by anon-200231 to David on 9 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: David Walker-Sünderhauf

      David Walker-Sünderhauf answered on 9 Mar 2019:


      Yes, this would be ideal. The problem with organ donors (even if they’re your parents or your brother & sister) is that they’re never really 100% compatible with your own body. All you cells and tissues have cell surface proteins that are recognised as “harmless” by your own immune system. These “tissue markers” vary from person to person, and the only way to guarantee no organ rejection is to match them all – which is nearly impossible without an identical twin.
      .
      Unfortunately, actually cloning a human and then just using their organs obviously is very dark and I hope no one will ever do that. Another solution people are looking at is basically like partially cloning: Just growing the organ of interest in the lab, so for example growing just a heart from somebody’s cells. This is more complicated as the organ won’t be in its natural environment

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