Frozen Human Cells Heal Sick Livers

New Scientist, December 4, 1999, p.5

Patients with liver failure, who would otherwise have died while waiting for a liver transplant, have been kept alive by a new cell infusion technique, using human liver cells. Scientists have discovered that frozen human liver cells can keep patients alive until a suitable donor becomes available.

The scientists salvaged healthy liver cells from donated organs that were unsuitable for whole-organ transplants because of damage to blood vessels or bile ducts, and froze them using liquid nitrogen. They then infused the cells into the livers or spleens of patients who were close to death from liver failure.

Seven out of 12 patients who received the treatment at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond lived long enough to have a whole-organ liver transplant. One woman with acute liver failure resulting from a painkiller overdose made a full recovery with the cells alone. These findings were recently reported at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

Doctors at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have successfully used liver cell infusions to treat two children with potentially fatal genetic liver defects.

This technique could preclude the perceived need for xenotransplantation, and save lives without posing unnecessary health risks.

Source: www.newscientist.com