New study considers limits on human genes, cells in animals

London

-- Animals with human genes (transgenic) or cells (chimeric) will likely become more common in research as medical technology and research improves. But what are the limits? A new multidisciplinary study is underway to consider those medical and legal boundaries that are placed on researchers.

The Academy of Medical Sciences, which promotes medical advances in the United Kingdom, will study existing UK and European Union limits on transgenic and chimeric animal research and make recommendations on new boundaries for the future.

Researchers will include experts in veterinary medicine, genetics, neuroscience, bioethics, says chairperson Martin Bobrow. The final report also will consider the public in its recommendations.

"It is important to ensure that this exciting research can progress within limits that scientists, the government, and the public support," Bobrow says. "We will not only be focusing on the ethical dimensions, but also on how [the research] is perceived by the public. Do these constructs challenge our idea of what it is to be human?"

Current transgenic or chimeric research includes animal like rhesus macaques that carry a human form of the Huntington's gene, and mice with human-like livers in which the effects of new drugs are studied. In the future, animals with human stem cells may provide ways to develop treatments for retinal blindness, diabetes and strokes.