Researchers who used cloned embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease in mice say they worked better than other cells.

The researchers tried to show embryonic stem cells can be made using cloning technology and used to provide a tailor-made treatment.

But they found that a mouse's own cloned stem cells were far less disruptive to its body than cloned cells taken from other mice.

Researchers hope one day to be able to take a little piece of skin and grow embryonic stem cells from it for personal, tailor-made medical treatments.

"It demonstrated what we suspected all along, that genetically matched tissue works better," says lead author Dr Viviane Tabar of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Embryonic stem cells are the body's ultimate master cells, giving rise to all the other cells and tissue.

One disease that may benefit from this technology is Parkinson's. The incurable, fatal illness is caused by the destruction of specific brain cells.