Cord Blood Stem Cells: Potential for Liver Repair PublicAffairs | 2 April 2010, 5:11 pm
 
Sadly, liver disease affects one in 2,500 newborns, and 15,000 children are hospitalized for liver disease each year in the U.S. The treatment options for many severe forms of liver disease are inadequate, leaving organ transplantation as the only option available. Unfortunately there are serious limitations to the number of donors available, and organ transplantation often results in lifelong immunosuppressive medications that carry a high risk of developing other chronic diseases. Various research groups are working to develop alternative therapies to liver transplantation, and one area showing promise is the use of stem cells in liver regenerative treatments. Below is some additional detail about the research currently underway and some of the promising outcomes:
 
• A preclinical study published in Liver International in July 2009 found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from cord blood migrated to the injured livers of animal models of liver cirrhosis, demonstrating that cord blood MSC infusions may improve liver cirrhosis and raising the possibility for clinical use of cord blood to treat liver damage.
 
• Another preclinical study found that infusions of human cord bloodderived cells efficiently engrafted into damaged livers and gave rise to hepatocyte-like cells, suggesting that cord blood stem cells may home to injured liver and stimulate tissue repair. These results were published n the journal Hepatology in June 2009.
 
• Researchers working to develop therapies that utilize stem cells in tissue engineering to create liver tissue grafts were successful in creating a liver tissue graft from human cord blood stem cells – a discovery that may one day lead to a surgical alternative to organ transplantation. The findings were published in the December 2008 issue of Cells Tissues Organs. Given the promising pre-clinical findings described above, and the clinical research using autologous (one’s own) cells, cord blood stem cells may prove to be an ideal treatment for liver repair.