Barriers to the successful treatment of liver disease by hepatocyte transplantation

Kyle A. Soltys, Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez, Masaki Nagaya, Kevin M. Baskin, Melvin Deutsch, Ryotaro Ito, Benjamin L. Shneider, Robert Squires, Jerry Vockley, Chandan Guha, Jayanta Roy-Chowdhury, Stephen C. Strom, Jeffrey L. Platt, Ira J. Fox

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

126 Scopus citations

Abstract

Treatment of patients with liver disease by hepatocyte transplantation has expanded dramatically over the last decade, especially for treatment of patients with liver-based metabolic disorders. While much progress has been made, full realization of its potential has not been reached. Treatment of acute liver failure has been hampered by a number of factors, but the efficacy of hepatocyte transplantation in treating this entity could be better determined through a multi-institutional trial using a uniform and standardized treatment strategy. The barriers to treating chronic liver failure resulting from cirrhosis are more extensive. Novel strategies are being developed to safely precondition patients with liver-directed radiation therapy in order to enhance donor hepatocyte survival, long-term engraftment and improve treatment of patients with life-threatening liver-based genetic deficiencies. This work could soon be translated to the clinic. Once hepatocyte transplantation has been shown to effectively replace organ transplantation for a portion of patients with liver failure and life-threatening liver metabolic diseases, it is likely that multiple novel sources of donor hepatocytes will be developed, making cell therapy available and effective for a broad population of patients with liver disorders.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)769-774
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Hepatology
Volume53
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2010

Keywords

  • Hepatocyte transplantation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Hepatology

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