Copyright
©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2008; 14(29): 4593-4599
Published online Aug 7, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.4593
Published online Aug 7, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.4593
Stem cells for end stage liver disease: How far have we got?
Stefania Lorenzini, Stefano Gitto, Elena Grandini, Pietro Andreone, Mauro Bernardi, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica. Unità Operativa di Semeiotica Medica. University of Bologna, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this manuscript.
Correspondence to: Dr. Stefania Lorenzini, MD, PhD, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Via Massarenti 9, Bologna 40138, Italy. stefania.lorenzini2@unibo.it
Telephone: + 39-51-6364107
Fax: + 39-51-345806
Received: May 15, 2008
Revised: July 14, 2008
Accepted: July 21, 2008
Published online: August 7, 2008
Revised: July 14, 2008
Accepted: July 21, 2008
Published online: August 7, 2008
Abstract
End stage liver disease (ESLD) is a health problem worldwide. Liver transplantation is currently the only effective therapy, but its many drawbacks include a shortage of donors, operative damage, risk of rejection and in some cases recidivism of the pre-transplant disease. These factors account for the recent growing interest in regenerative medicine. Experiments have sought to identify an optimal source of stem cells, sufficient to generate large amounts of hepatocytes to be used in bioartificial livers or injected in vivo to repair the diseased organ. This update aims to give non-stem cell specialists an overview of the results obtained to date in this fascinating field of biomedical research.