Clinical applications of hepatocyte transplantation.
The shortage of organ donors is a problem worldwide, with approximately 15% of adult patients with life-threatening liver diseases dying while on the waiting list. The use of cell transplantation for liver disease is an attempt to correct metabolic defects, or to support liver function as a bridge to liver transplantation and, as such, has raised a number of expectations. Most of the available studies briefly reported here focus on adult hepatocyte transplantation (HT), and the results are neither reproducible nor comparable, because the means of infusion, amount of injected cells and clinical variability differ among the studies. To better understand the specific role of HT in the management of end-stage liver disease, it is important that controlled studies, designed on the principles of evidence-based medicine, be done in order to guarantee the reproducibility of results.
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Via Tricomi, 1, Palermo 90127, Italy. gpietrosi@ismett.edu
Giada
G
Pietrosi
Giovanni Battista
GB
Vizzini
Salvatore
S
Gruttadauria
Bruno
B
Gridelli
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D017093:Liver Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome