Journal
JOURNAL OF TISSUE ENGINEERING
Volume 12, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/2041731420986711
Keywords
Stem cell; cell aggregate; decellularized liver scaffold; liver failure
Categories
Funding
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2019YFA0111300]
- Guangdong Province Science and Technology Innovation Special Fund (International Scientific Cooperation) [2018A050506035]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51903256, 21907113, 32001012]
- Research Grants Council (Hong Kong)-Early Career Scheme [24204819]
- Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant [2018.018]
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Liver failure is a lethal condition that can only be effectively treated with liver transplantation. However, due to limited donors and potential immune rejection, novel therapeutic strategies are being sought to restore normal liver structures and functions, especially for livers with inherited metabolic disorders or chronic diseases. Stem cells and progenitors are highlighted as alternative cell sources in tissue engineering approaches to improve cell delivery efficiency and potential approaches.
Liver failure is a lethal condition with hepatocellular dysfunction, and liver transplantation is presently the only effective treatment. However, due to the limited availability of donors and the potential immune rejection, novel therapeutic strategies are actively sought to restore the normal hepatic architectures and functions, especially for livers with inherited metabolic dysfunctions or chronic diseases. Although the conventional cell therapy has shown promising results, the direct infusion of hepatocytes is hampered by limited hepatocyte sources, poor cell viability, and engraftment. Hence, this review mainly highlights the role of stem cells and progenitors as the alternative cell source and summarizes the potential approaches based on tissue engineering to improve the delivery efficiency of cells. Particularly, the underlying mechanisms for cell therapy using stem cells and progenitors are discussed in two main aspects: paracrine effect and cell differentiation. Moreover, tissue-engineering approaches using cell aggregates and decellularized liver scaffolds for bioengineering of functional hepatic constructs are discussed and compared in terms of the potential to replicate liver physiological structures. In the end, a potentially effective strategy combining the premium advantages of stem cell aggregates and decellularized liver scaffolds is proposed as the future direction of liver tissue engineering and regeneration.
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