Cloning, he said, would offer a way to modify the pig cells so they could be biochemically humanized.

For example, treating diabetic patients by introducing insulin-producing pig cells directly into their muscle.

The clinical trial involved 18 patients, 10 of whom had the fetal pig cells put into their brains and 8 who had sham surgery.

A recipient's immune system cells never come into contact with the pig cells because they cannot pass through the plastic.

And pig cells happen to be so compatible with human needs that pig insulin is already used to treat diabetes.

In case the pig cells must be replaced, he said the researchers were "trying to make this device re-seedable."

Cloning provides another potential solution, scientists could eliminate the sugar molecule before using the pig cells to create clones.

The patients getting the pig cells will receive anti-rejection drugs and antibiotics, standard fare for transplant patients.

Pork sausages from the butcher's contain many live pig cells.

Yet to the man with Huntington's disease, for which there is no drug or therapy, the pig cells sound like a godsend.