Reversing Liver Cirrhosis with Adult Stem Cells

Finally! Some news about adult stem cells for liver cirrhosis. Hammersmith hospital in London has started investigating whether autologous (one's own) peripheral blood stem cells can be used to repopulate and regenerate damaged liver cells. This initial trial was designed as a safety check for the procedure where a small number of stem cells were injected back into the hepatic artery and recovery in function may or may not happen due to insufficient stem cell dose.

Stem cells have already been shown to be useful in regenerating liver cells and 5 patients have received this novel therapy. If it is safe, a bigger trial will be designed to see how much needs to be administered for various stages of liver disease for the procedure to work. If successful, 6000-7000 patients (perhaps more) awaiting a suitable liver donor in the UK may benefit from this procedure.

Patients who may also wish to explore this option as a first line approach, rather than a last resort are those who don't want to undergo an organ transplant and live with immunosuppression drugs for the rest of their lives (click here and scroll about half way down for drug list). The head of liver surgery at Hammersmith conducting the trials, Professor Nagy Habib is already pleased with the initial patient response saying that the patient's blood results were already improving.

Potential liver patients in Asia:
In Malaysia, I couldn't find exact statistics for liver disease but it is estimated to be about 34,000. A significant contributor to the disease is alcohol consumption and viral hepatitis. In a 1990 study by doctors at Universiti Kebangsaan in a KL hospital documented that 36% of liver cirrhosis was due to alcohol (largely Indian patients) with male:female ratio of 4.4:1.

Thailand is estimated to have more than 95,000 patients suffering from liver disease as viral hepatitis is known to be high.

Prof Nagy, I hope you succeed in this safety trial and move on to ascertaining dose and number of administrations required. StemLife offers peripheral blood stem cell banking services in Malaysia and Thailand (we do so for patients requiring stem cells for oncology and cardiac applications) and we have many patients in the Far East who I am quite certain have already waited a long time for a donor liver, but unable to obtain one. I look forward to your updates :)