Chinese researchers claimed in August to have created the first human/rabbit hybrid embryo.
The researcher was carried out at Shanghai Second Medical University and details about the research was published in Cell Research, a bimonthly peer reviewed journal of the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology.
The researchers claim they fused skin cells from a number of human source with rabbit cells that had most of their rabbit DNA removed. According to the researchers, 400 of the hybrids grew into early embryos and more than 100 survived to become blastocysts.
There are many good reasons, however, to be skeptical that the researchers actually managed to create hybrid embryos.
According to a United Press International story, the report on this research had been submitted and rejected by several more reputable journals over the past two years. The study has been rejected for publication because both the draft and the version published in Cell Research omit data that would make it possible to confirm that the researchers actually resulted in embryonic cells.
And, as UPI tactfully puts it, “researchers in China have gained a reputation for making bold claims about cloning and stem cells that, all too often, prove false.”
Sources:
Scientists Doubt Chinese Claim of Rabbit-Human Clone. United Press International, August 15, 2003.
Cloning yields human-rabbit hybrid embryo. Rick Weiss, Washington Post, August 14, 2003.