title: Hepatocyte transplantation: state of the art and strategies for overcoming existing hurdles.
abstract: Over three decades of research in experimental animals and several clinical trials have brought us to the threshold of hepatocyte transplantation for the treatment of acute and chronic liver failure, and inherited metabolic disorders. However, more extensive clinical studies and routine clinical application are hampered by the shortage of good quality of donor cells. To overcome these hurdles, current research has focused on the search for alternatives to adult primary hepatocytes, such as liver cell progenitors, fetal hepatoblasts, embryonic, bone marrow or umbilical cord blood stem cells and conditionally immortalized hepatocytes. Cross-species hepatocyte transplantation is also being explored. It is hoped that ongoing research will permit the application of hepatocyte transplantation to the treatment of a wide array of liver diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, and Marion Bessin Liver Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Sung-W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Namita Roy
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Jayanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roy-Chowdhury
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017690:Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D017093:Liver Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008115:Liver Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome