Discovery of liver cell with stem cell-like properties could eliminate need for organ transplants

 We already knew that the liver has the capacity to regrow substantially so in a way this is unsurprising.  this is about mechanism.

This does promise protocols able to fully create a healthy liver which will be necessary to support similar activity elsewhere.  

The breakthroughs are coming quickly in terms of supporting physical restoration.  We really need to now overcome the present philosophy of medical abandonmnet in terms of the aging or older debilitated.

We will actually need this population to be back at it and it is the best source of population supply.  Cellular restoration can conceivably restore an adult to the physical age of the mid thirties.  That should be our objective.  We will see this possibility arise steadily over the next decade, but few will be taking about it.


Discovery of liver cell with stem cell-like properties could eliminate need for organ transplants


Rich Haridy


July 29th, 2019 


https://newatlas.com/liver-cell-organ-regeneration-eliminate-transplants/60805/ 


A new cell, found in adult human livers, is like a fetal stem cell, with the capacity to develop into mature liver cells and regenerate damaged cells in the organ(Credit: decade3d/Depositphotos)

An exciting new study, led by scientists from King's College London, has discovered a new type of cell in the liver. The research describes the cell as having "stem cell-like properties," with the potential to regenerate damaged liver cells and treat disease in the organ without the need for a transplant.

From hepatitis to cirrhosis there are over 100 different individual conditions that result in damage to the liver. Collectively, liver diseases have been dramatically rising in the United States over the past decade. Damage to liver cells is generally permanent, and if severe enough the only effective treatment is a complete liver transplant.

New research suggests an entirely new treatment for liver disease in the future could eliminate the need for liver transplants by essentially regenerating diseased or damaged liver cells. Utilizing a method called single-cell RNA sequencing the researchers closely studied human fetal and adult livers and discovered a specific type of cell, called a hepatobiliary hybrid progenitor cell (HHyP).

In utero, when a fetus is developing, HHyP cells act as precursors to the two main types of mature liver cells, hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. But most interestingly, the new research reveals the presence of small amounts of these HHyP cells in adult livers. The implications of this discovery suggest the possibility of several kinds of treatments that could regenerate damaged liver cells instead of a more invasive liver transplant.

For the first time, we have found that cells with true stem cell like properties may well exist in the human liver," says lead author on the new research, Tamir Rashid. "This in turn could provide a wide range of regenerative medicine applications for treating liver disease, including the possibility of bypassing the need for liver transplants."

One hypothetical possibility raised by the study is that induced pluripotent stem cells could be turned into HHyP cells and then transplanted into a damaged liver, hopefully regenerating the damaged tissue. Even more radically, the researchers suggest the potential for triggering activity in HHyP cells already in a person's liver to repair any damage.

"We now need to work quickly to unlock the recipe for converting pluripotent stem cells into HHyPs so that we could transplant those cells into patients at will," explains Rashid. "In the longer term, we will also be working to see if we can reprogram HHyPs within the body using traditional pharmacological drugs to repair diseased livers without either cell or organ transplantation."

It is early days for the research, but this initial extraordinary discovery paves the way for entirely novel future treatments for liver disease that may remove the need for onerous and invasive organ transplantation procedures.