ABSTRACT
Cloning, or NT, is a complicated and fascinating process that reverts an adult differentiated genome
into an embryonic-like genome. Interestingly, the term cloning is most widely used, and is easily used to distinguish between both ‘therapeutic’ and ‘reproductive’ cloning. However, cloning is considered an inappropriate label according to many in the scientific field. In 2004, the International Society for Stem Cell Research made a huge effort to re-educate both the scientific and non-scientific communities, recommending the use of the abbreviation NT rather than cloning. Nuclear transfer can be defined as the production of embryos following transfer of either embryonic, fetal or somatic cell/nuclei into enucleated eggs: ECNT (embryonic cell nuclear transfer) describes strictly nuclear transfer using embryonic cell nuclei and SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer), using somatic cell adult nuclei. In addition, pluripotent cells isolated from the inner cell mass of NT blastocysts should be described as nuclear transfer stem cells (NTSCs) but the term human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) should be used for cells derived from human preimplantation embryos, which are produced by in-vitro fertilization.
