Boosting cell production could help repair damaged liver

Washington, Mar 5 (ANI): Scientists have shed light on how the liver can heal itself by increasing the production of key cells required to treat damaged liver tissue.

The study by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, could help heal livers affected by diseases such as cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis.

Scientists were able to unpick the process of how different cells in the liver are formed.

When the liver is damaged it produces too many bile duct cells and not enough cells called hepatocytes, which the liver needs to repair damaged tissue.hey found they could increase the number of hepatocyte cells - which detoxify the liver - by encouraging these cells to be produced instead of bile duct cells.

Understanding how liver cells are formed could help to develop drugs to encourage the production of hepatocytes to repair liver tissue. This could eventually ease the pressure on waiting lists for liver transplants.

"Liver disease is on the increase in the UK and is one of the top five killers. Increasing numbers of patients are in need of liver transplants, but the supply of donated organs is not keeping pace with the demand," said Professor Stuart Forbes, Associate Director at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, who is a consultant hepatologist and was the academic leader of the study.

"If we can find ways to encourage the liver to heal itself then we could ease the pressure on waiting lists for liver transplants."

The production of hepatocyte cells was increased by altering the expression of certain genes in early stage liver cells.

"This research helps us know how to increase numbers of cells that are needed for healthy liver function and could pave the way for finding drugs that help liver repair," Dr Luke Boulter, of the University of Edinburgh's MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and first author on the paper, said.

"Understanding the process in which cells in the liver are formed is key in looking at ways to repair damaged liver tissue."

Dr Rob Buckle, Head of Regenerative Medicine at the MRC, insisted that 'liver transplants have saved countless lives over the years.'

"But demand will inevitably outstrip supply and in the long term we need to look beyond replacing damaged tissues to exploiting the regenerative potential of the human body."

"The MRC continues to invest heavily across the breadth of approaches that might deliver the promise of regenerative medicine, and this study opens up the possibility of applying our increasing knowledge of stem cell biology to stimulate the body's own dormant repair processes as a basis for future therapy," Dr Buckle added.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Medicine. (ANI)