Human Hepatocyte Transplantation for Liver Disease: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Overview

Journal Pediatr Res

Specialties Biology
Pediatrics

Date 2017 Nov 18

PMID 29149103

Citations 90

Authors

V Iansante

R R Mitry

C Filippi

E Fitzpatrick

A Dhawan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Liver transplantation is the accepted treatment for patients with acute liver failure and liver-based metabolic disorders. However, donor organ shortage and lifelong need for immunosuppression are the main limitations to liver transplantation. In addition, loss of the native liver as a target organ for future gene therapy for metabolic disorders limits the futuristic treatment options, resulting in the need for alternative therapeutic strategies. A potential alternative to liver transplantation is allogeneic hepatocyte transplantation. Over the last two decades, hepatocyte transplantation has made the transition from bench to bedside. Standardized techniques have been established for isolation, culture, and cryopreservation of human hepatocytes. Clinical hepatocyte transplantation safety and short-term efficacy have been proven; however, some major hurdles-mainly concerning shortage of donor organs, low cell engraftment, and lack of a long-lasting effect-need to be overcome to widen its clinical applications. Current research is aimed at addressing these problems, with the ultimate goal of increasing hepatocyte transplantation efficacy in clinical applications.

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