Abstract
Mammalian liver has a unique capacity to regenerate following resection or injury, and recovery of liver mass is mainly through proliferation of remaining adult hepatocytes. However, in pathologic conditions, especially during acute liver failure (ALF) and advanced stages of chronic liver disease (CLD), regeneration eventually fails and orthothopic liver transplantation (OLT) represents the only curative approach. The clinical scenario of a world-wide increasing incidence of end-stage CLD and an associated lack of organ availability has led several laboratories to explore the feasibility and efficiency of experimental alternatives to OLT involving cellular therapy. This review presents experimental and clinical studies performed in the last 10–15 years where adult and embryonic hepatocytes, hepatic stem/progenitor cells and extrahepatic stem cells have been used as transplantable cell sources.
Acknowledgments
MP is supported by grants from Regione Piemonte (Torino) and Fondazione CRT (Torino). FPR is supported by a grant from the University of Padova (Progetto di Ateneo 2008).
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.