Researchers Grow Functioning Liver Tissue

Functioning liver tissue has been successfully grown in a bioreactor and used as a bridge-to-transplant for patients with liver disease. The achievement was reported at a joint meeting of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs and the International Society for Artificial Organs in Washington (DC, USA).

Researchers have grown functioning liver tissue in a fist-sized bioreactor that works similar to kidney dialysis and has kept patients with liver failure alive until donor organs have become available. "We have treated eight patients in acute liver failure, some of whom were in a coma, who were able to be bridged to transplant,” said Jorg Gerlach, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a faculty member of the university's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (PA, USA).

Dr. Gerlach and his colleagues have been able to grow functioning liver tissue from human liver stem cells derived from organs that had been deemed unsuitable for transplant because of damage or underlying disease. Such cells have been shown to proliferate and form liver-like tissues in bioreactors, and persist in culture for many weeks. Dr. Gerlach's bioreactor holds promise for helping the sickest patients with liver disease, who often do not survive the wait for transplantation or become too sick to qualify for a transplant.





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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine