Creating Liver Cells from Patients’ Skin
Cambridge University, UK scientists reprogramed cells from the skin samples into induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells and then reprogrammed them to generate liver cells which mimicked the broad range of liver diseases as reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on 8/25/10.
For their study, Rashid’s team took skin samples from 7 patients who were suffering from a variety of inherited liver diseases, and 3 from healthy people to act as comparisons.
- They then reprogrammed cells from the skin samples into a kind of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, and then reprogrammed them to generate liver cells which mimicked the broad range of liver diseases in the patients they had come from,
- They used the same technique to create “healthy” liver cells from the comparison group.
They also found a way of avoiding the kind of intense political and ethical rows over embryonic stem cells which are currently hampering work in the US. “This technology bypasses the need for using human embryos,” said Tamir Rashid of Cambridge’s laboratory for regenerative medicine, who led the study. “The cells we created were just as good as if we had used embryonic stem cells.”
Liver disease is the 5th largest cause of death in developed nations after cardiovascular, cancer, stroke, and respiratory diseases.
- In the US, it accounts for around 25,000 deaths a year and experts say that in the UK liver disease death rates among young and middle-aged people are increasing at a rate of 8 to 10% a year,
- Rashid said that despite 40 years of trying, scientists have so far never been able to grow liver cells in a lab, making research into liver disorders extremely difficult,
- Given a shortage of donor liver organs, alternatives are urgently needed.
This study increases the likelihood that alternatives can be found, either by developing new drugs or by using cell-based therapy; when cells from patients with genetic diseases are “cured” and transplanted back. Liver diseases can be either inherited, or caused by alcohol abuse or infections such as hepatitis. Previously liver cells were never grown in the laboratory, so this should open up a whole new sphere of research. (HWM and Reuters)
