Whole liver engineering: A promising approach to develop functional liver surrogates.

Area of Science:

• Regenerative Medicine
• Tissue Engineering
• Hepatology

Background:

• End-stage liver failure presents a critical challenge due to a severe shortage of organ donors.
• Current bioartificial liver devices offer limited clinical applications as temporary support.
• Whole liver engineering emerges as a promising alternative for creating functional liver surrogates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent achievements in whole liver engineering.
• To highlight advancements in regenerative medicine for liver failure.
• To discuss the potential of bioengineered livers as alternatives to transplantation.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent scientific literature on whole liver engineering.
• Analysis of studies focusing on biological scaffold-based regenerative approaches.
• Synthesis of progress in developing functional liver surrogates.

Main Results:

• Significant advancements have been made in whole liver engineering since 2010.
• Biological scaffold-based regenerative medicine is progressing towards functional liver surrogates.
• The field shows promise for addressing the liver donor shortage.

Conclusions:

• Whole liver engineering is a rapidly advancing field with substantial progress.
• This regenerative medicine approach holds significant potential for treating end-stage liver disease.
• Further research is crucial to translate these advancements into clinical practice.