Cloned chicken to lay cancer-fighting eggs

By FRED BRIDGLAND

LONDON - The scientists who cloned Dolly the Sheep revealed their plans yesterday to clone chickens designed to lay eggs containing cancer-killing proteins.

Britney the Hen – as the future superchicken has already been named – madeher debut, in spirit at least, on the highest ramparts of Edinburgh Castle.

Her supporting act at a slickly organised media presentation consisted of a six-strong team of researchers from the Roslin Institute, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and executives from the American biotechnology company Viragen.

Viragen has teamed up with the institute to produce chickens that will be genetically primed to produce egg whites rich in gene protein types that have been identified by researchers as necessities for treating cancer.

Dr Helen Sang, head of the Roslin team, said: "The problem so far with protein-based, anti-cancer treatments is that these drugs are complex and difficult to produce in the necessary large quantities using traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing methods."

Companies working in this field can be forced to wait four years or more before they accumulate sufficient supplies of protein even to allow clinical trials to begin.

Dr Sang, who predicted that Britney the Hen – or perhaps Robbie the Cock – would come into life "within a year or so", added: "As a natural production vehicle, the egg has many advantages over traditional production methods – higher volumes, faster production times, unlimited capacity and, importantly, lower costs."

Dolly was created by Professor Ian Wilmut, who successfully transferred nuclear material extracted from a mammary cell of an adult ewe into an extracted egg cell.

Dr Sang, chief scientist at Roslin and internationally renowned for her work on bird genetics, intends to produce her superchicken using Professor Wilmut's work in part.

Professor Wilmut said it was, in fact, far less important to clone Britney the Hen than a male equivalent. "Once you've got one male bird genetically primed for the right proteins, you can use it to breed practically endlessly with hens. The possibilities then are limitless," he said.

Viragen has asked Dr Sang to introduce genes into the first cloned chickens that will produce proteins known to counteract skin and lung cancers.

She said: "There are nuclear differences in the in the reproductive biology of chickens and mammals. But I am very confident we will achieve our goal."

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