Bridge for end stage liver diease  patients

Laboratory grown liver cells may be the answer for patients with ESLD waiting for a liver transplant and also for the treatment of inherited liver diseases.

Stephen Storm, MD of the University of Pittsburgh, USA, presented a report on studies in which his team injected liver cells into the spleen of patients with terminal liver failure to serve as a bridge to transplantation. The presentation was made at the Experimental Biology 2000 meeting in San Diego, California in May this year.

He reported that six patients died but seven survived an average of 4 days after liver cells injection before receiving their transplant. One patient recovered after receiving the liver cells alone and never received a transplant while storm said that it was probable that the other were helped by the whole liver transplant rather than the cells.

An 11 year old child with Crigler Najjar Syndrome, an inherited liver disease was also given liver cell injections. The idea was to “SEED” the liver with normal cells containing the enzyme that process bilirubin which is otherwise absent in this syndrome. The hope was to prevent the need for a liver transplantation. 

7.5 billion Liver cells were injected into the child’s liver. Within 1 month activity of the enzyme, bilirubin UDP glucuronyl, transferase, rose from 0.5- 5.5%. It was noted that although a 10% level of the enzyme was probably ideal, this would appear to be close to a 50% clinical cure.

The patient’s bilirubin level fell by more than 65%, twenty two months after the liver cell injections. The need for phototherapy to treat jaundice also decreased by about 50%. The future plan is to inject another batch of liver cells in order to achieve a complete cure.