Cellular Transplantation for Liver Diseases

Presently, the orthotropic liver transplantation (OLT) is still the most effective therapeutic for patients with acute or chronic hepatic failure. However, due to the shortage of donor livers, the number of patients benefited from this approach is limited. Therefore, some alternative modalities have been paid attention for restoring the liver function. The cell transplantation is one of the promising modalities to realize this purpose. The types of cells used in the cell transplantation include syngeneic hepatocytes, allogeneic hepatocytes, immortalized hepatocytes, and stem cells derived heptocytes. The stem cells, especially the adult stem cells from bone marrow, are shown as a promising cell source for liver repopulation. The mesenchymal bone marrow stem cells and embryonic stem cells can be induced to differentiate into the hepatic lineage and might be used in the cell transplantation for liver diseases. Compared to OLT, the advantages of cell-based therapy for liver disease are, but not limited to, less invasive, less expensive, easy manipulated, easy expansion of cells in vitro. Cells can be stored in a cell bank for future use. Though most of the current studies are experimental and animal based, the cellular therapy for liver disease is expected to be an effective alternative in clinical settings in near future.