New hope in liver failure treatment
1 day ago
Scientists have found a new way of treating liver failure which helps
the organ regenerate and can eliminate the need for a transplant,
according to a study published.
Researchers in the US treated liver failure in animals by
manipulating the immune response, a technique they believe could also
be used on humans.
The method might be able to keep patients alive long enough for donor
organs to become available, or allow the liver to regenerate so that
a transplant is no longer needed.
If this worked, it would be a huge leap forward in the treatment of
end-stage liver failure, which at the moment can only be solved by
transplantation.
The research was carried out at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr
Martin Yarmush, senior author of the study, which is published in the
PLoS One journal, said: "We have identified a non-hepatic source of
cells that can easily be expanded to the scale required for clinical
application.
The liver is one of the few major organs able to regenerate itself.
However, the inflammation caused by alcoholism or diseases such as
chronic hepatitis can suppress this natural regeneration process and
increase cell death.
The only current treatment when the liver reaches this stage is
transplantation but researchers decided to test whether stem cells
could be used to treat organ failure instead.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) - cells from the bone marrow that
develop into tissues supporting blood cell development in the marrow
cavity - were used. To test their ability to treat organ failure
involving inflammatory activity, the scientists examined various ways
of using the cells to treat rats with liver damage.
Exactly how the MSC-produced molecules inhibit the movement of immune
cells into a damaged organ is not yet known and is being examined.
The researchers also now plan to test whether MSCs have the potential
to treat other immunological diseases.
http://ukpress.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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