Human Stem Cells Help Regenerate Liver Function in Mice
Researchers transplanted derived functional hepatocytes from human stem cells into mice suffering from acute liver injury, and found that these liver cells functioned normally and raised survival of the treated animals.
WASHINGTON: Researchers transplanted derived functional hepatocytes from human stem cells into mice suffering from acute liver injury, and found that these liver cells functioned normally and raised survival of the treated animals.
Massoud Vosough and co-authors demonstrate a large-scale, integrated manufacturing strategy for generating functional hepatocytes in a single suspension culture grown in a scalable stirred bioreactor.
In the article 'Generation of Functional Hepatocyte-Like Cells from Human Pluripotent stem cells in a Scalable Suspension Culture' the authors describe the method used for scale-up, differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells into liver cells, and characterization and purification of the hepatocytes based on their physiological properties and the expression of liver cell biomarkers.
David C Hay, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK, comments on the importance of Vosough and others' contribution to the scientific literature in his editorial in Stem Cells and Development entitled 'Rapid and Scalable Human Stem Cell Differentiation: Now in 3D.'
The researchers 'developed a system for mass manufacture of stem cell derived hepatocytes in numbers that would be useful for clinical application,' creating possibilities for future 'immune matched cell based therapies,' Hays said.
Such approaches could be used to correct mutated genes in stem cell populations prior to differentiation and transplantation, he adds.
The findings have been published in Stem Cells and Development.