Stem cells for Liver Disease

The liver is a very important organ for us humans. Its main job is to be a filter, it’s like our very own treatment plant. It’s in charge of filtering the blood after it passes through the digestive system, detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs and alcohol. As important as it is, there’s also a wide variety of diseases and conditions that affect liver function. They may be inherited or they may be caused by factors such as viruses or alcohol abuse which causes scarring, leading potentially to cirrhosis.

Evidence suggests that fat derived stem cells will develop hepatocyte like functions in presence of hepatocyte cell populations and while the exact interactions are unknown, results suggest there is an increase in liver regeneration. The use of basic fibroblast growth factor enhances the therapeutic effect of the treatment.