Doctors hope that by being able to study the multiple embryos developed through cloning, they can determine the causes of spontaneous abortions. Cancer research is possibly the most important reason for embryo cloning. Cancer cells develop at approximately the same phenomenal speed as embryonic cells do. By studying the embryonic cell growth, scientists may be able to determine how to stop it, and how to stop cancer growth as well. Another important area of embryo cloning research is embryonic stem cell development.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can develop into almost any type of cell in the body.
These cells are not attacked by a person's immune system because of their fast development and undifferentiated status. In adult humans, when damage to nerve tissue occurs, the nerve tissue does not regenerate and replace the lost tissue. However, since the stem cells are undifferentiated they could theoretically be used to replace the damaged cells. Human embryo cloning is needed for the implantation of stem cells, because of the large amount of cells that would be needed. The DNA from one of the cloned embryos would then be removed and standard genetic testing would be used to detect whether or not that embryo contained the genetic disease.