The invention relates to a method of making pluripotent stem cells that
does not involve the formation of early preimplantation embryos or fetal
tissue. The method has general utility in the production of pluripotent
stem cells from many mammalian species but has particular application in
man where pluripotent stem cell production can be customized to
particular human individual. The method involves the fusion of donor
somatic or stem cells (or their karyoplasts) with cytoplasmic,
membrane-delimited fragments of mammalian oocytes or zygotes. After the
initial genomic reprogramming occurs, the cells can proliferate and thus
multiply in vitro yielding a large number of autologous cells for cell
therapy application. The result of this process is a cell population
genomically identical to the somatic, differentiated cells derived from
an individual patient. However, these cells are pluripotent in that upon
application of specific growth factors, the cells are capable of
differentiating into specific cell types as required by the sought
clinical indication.