Human embryonic stem cell lines with genetic disorders.

A previous study described the establishment of human embryonic stem cell (ESC) lines from different sources of embryonic material, including morula, whole blastocyst and isolated inner cell mass. Using these methods, a repository of ESC lines has been established with different genetic abnormalities, which provides an unlimited source of disease cells in culture for undertaking research on the primary disturbances of the cellular processes in the genetically abnormal cells. ESC lines with genetic disorders were derived from the mutant embryos detected and avoided from transfer in the ongoing practice of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). The current repository contains 18 ESC lines with genetic disorders, including adrenoleukodystrophy, Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy, Fanconi anaemia, complementation group A, fragile-X syndrome, Huntington disease (three lines), Marfan syndrome, myotonic dystrophy (two lines), neurofibromatosis type I (five lines) and thalassaemia (two lines). These ESC lines are presently used for research purposes and may be available on request.