Another Cord Blood Stem Cell Application: McGuckin's Hope for Livers

Recent news from the UK has led me to think that stem cell research is beginning to yield some fruits. Prof. Colin McGuckin (blogged about him here) and Dr. Nico Forraz have been able to generate small sections of liver-like cells from cord blood derived stem cells.

Though the cells are not in sufficient quantities to provide tissue for organ replacement now (apparently penny-like sizes), the doctors have set up a company called Conostem which plans to market the cells to pharmaceutical companies for drug testing. The aim is to permit the application of drugs to the cells in order to assess toxicity to liver cells prior to human trials (animal cells may behave differently to pharmaceuticals than human cells).

Interestingly, the cells are grown in a Nasa designed "microgravity bioreactor" which mimicks weightlessness which is said to aid in its creation. Their work has won a local business award but as it has not yet been published, many other scientists and doctors have voiced their opinions that it is still too early to consider it for therapeutic use which may be a decade away. Nonetheless, it may just be a matter of time and sufficient effort in understanding the cells and their behaviour when implanted into the context of the body.

I am wondering how long it took them to grow the penny-sized cells and how many cells they required as a seed culture. It must be expensive, if not the cytokines that are involved then the bioreactor can't be cheap to run. But, this is exciting news because it may open up the realm of tailored therapy for autologous cord blood stem cell use (for all those babies who may grow up to be drinkers*?!) if it becomes commercially applicable and affordable.

Compared to adult stem cell infusions which they are trying in London, this might still be an expensive proposition.


Note that until today, drug companies are purchasing excess human liver cells (from surgical procedures or biopsy) for diagnostic research and pharmaceutical testing. It doesn't happen in every country but generally where the healthcare rules are more relaxed and perhaps surgeons are drafted in to provide the tissue for clinical trials.


*It is estimated that up to 10% of the UK population have problems with their liver - most are linked to lifestyle factors, such as heavy drinking and obesity.

Transplants In Malaysia

In the STAR newspaper last week, I read about the transplant scene as updated by the National Transplant Resource Centre in Malaysia. Although not totally related to stem cell transplants (although you'll see why chronologically), some of the statistics are quite interesting and I thought it would be good to record them in this blog entry (for posterity!)

1st organ transplant that took place at KLGH (Hospital Kuala Lumpur) on the 15th of December 1975 was a renal transplant.
To date, there have been 1,005 renal transplants in the country.

1st Heart transplant was performed at Institut Jantung Malaysia (IJN) on 18th December 1997.
15 Heart transplants have been done to date.

1st Liver transplant was performed at Subang Jaya Medical Center in 1995 and subsequently at Selayang Hospital.
To date approximately 50 liver transplants have been performed (mostly living donors to related children).

1st Corneal transplant was performed in Malaysia in late 1960's.
A total of 1,231 have been reported to date.

1st Bone marrow transplant was performed in University Hospital (UMMC) for children in 1987 and later for adults. HKL started their ward in 1994 and followed subsequently by HUKM and SJMC.
Up until 2003, a total of 634 bone marrow transplants were performed, of which 372 were for children and 262 were for adults.


Since 2003, StemLife has enabled 2 cord blood stem cell transplants from parents who would not otherwise have banked their baby's cord blood stem cells.

We're looking forward to assisting more families in the future for their stem cell treatments- its the reason we started StemLife.

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 :)