Clinical applications of liver support systems

Liver diseases that lead to its failure are one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide. Taking into account liver’s complexity, there are no drug for acute or acute on chronic liver failure treatment. So far the only effective therapy is the liver transplantation. Unfortunately donor shortage is a main problem of this therapy. Due to this fact scientists have been looking for a new alternatives. The most promising are cell transplantation and bioartificial support systems. Without doubt hepatocytes are the best source of cells to use. But isolated human hepatocytes dedifferentiate very quickly and lose their functions ex vivo. Therefore, the new sources of cells, which could replace hepatocytes, are highly sought after. It is believed that, in order to help patients suffering from liver disease, the approach to solve this problem should be considered on different levels.