Cell-based therapy for acute and chronic liver failures: distinct diseases, different choices

Cell-based therapies (CBTs) are considered the effective approaches to treat liver failure. However, which cell type is the most suitable source of CBTs for acute liver failure (ALF) or chronic liver failure (CLF) remains unclear. To investigate this, mature hepatocytes in adult liver (adult HCs), fetal liver cells (FLCs), induced hepatic stem cells (iHepSCs) and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) were used to CBTs for ConA-induced ALF and Fah-deficient induced CLF in mice. The results showed that only BMSCs remitted liver damage and rescued ALF in ConA-treated mice. In this process, BMSCs inhibited ConA-induced inflammatory response by decreasing the mRNA expressions of TNF-α, IFN-γ and FasL and increasing IL-10 mRNA expression. However, in the CLF model, not BMSCs but adult HCs transplantation lessened liver injury, recovered liver function and rescued the life of Fah-/- mice after NTBC withdrawal. Further study showed that adult HCs offered more effective liver regeneration compared to other cells in Fah-/- mice without NTBC. These results demonstrated that BMSCs and adult HCs are the optimal sources of CBTs for ConA-induced ALF and Fah-deficient induced CLF in mice, respectively. This finding deepens our understanding about how to select a proper CBT for different liver failure.