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World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2015; 7(5): 859-865
Published online Jun 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i5.859
Hepatic stem cells: A viable approach for the treatment of liver cirrhosis
Md Aejaz Habeeb, Sandeep Kumar Vishwakarma, Avinash Bardia, Aleem Ahmed Khan
Md Aejaz Habeeb, Sandeep Kumar Vishwakarma, Avinash Bardia, Aleem Ahmed Khan, Center for Liver Research and Diagnostics, Deccan College of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad 500058, Andhra Pradesh, India
Author contributions: Vishwakarma SK and Bardia A performed research, analyzed data and wrote the paper; Habeeb MA and Khan AA designed the research and edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Aleem Ahmed Khan, Scientist, Center for Liver Research and Diagnostics, Deccan College of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad 500058, Andhra Pradesh, India. aleem_a_khan@rediffmail.com
Telephone: +91-40-24342954 Fax: +91-40-24342954
Received: November 28, 2014
Peer-review started: December 2, 2014
First decision: January 20, 2015
Revised: February 14, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 20, 2015
Published online: June 26, 2015
Abstract

Liver cirrhosis is characterized by distortion of liver architecture, necrosis of hepatocytes and regenerative nodules formation leading to cirrhosis. Various types of cell sources have been used for the management and treatment of decompensated liver cirrhosis. Knowledge of stem cells has offered a new dimension for regenerative therapy and has been considered as one of the potential adjuvant treatment modality in patients with end stage liver diseases (ESLD). Human fetal hepatic progenitor cells are less immunogenic than adult ones. They are highly propagative and challenging to cryopreservation. In our earlier studies we have demonstrated that fetuses at 10-18 wk of gestation age contain a large number of actively dividing hepatic stem and progenitor cells which possess bi-potent nature having potential to differentiate into bile duct cells and mature hepatocytes. Hepatic stem cell therapy for the treatment of ESLD is in their early stage of the translation. The emerging technology of decellularization and recellularization might offer a significant platform for developing bioengineered personalized livers to come over the scarcity of desired number of donor organs for the treatment of ESLD. Despite these significant advancements long-term tracking of stem cells in human is the most important subject nowadays in order to answer several unsettles issues regarding the route of delivery, the choice of stem cell type(s), the cell number and the time-point of cell delivery for the treatment in a chronic setting. Answering to these questions will further contribute to the development of safer, noninvasive, and repeatable imaging modalities that could discover better cell therapeutic approaches from bench to bed-side. Combinatorial approach of decellularization and nanotechnology could pave a way towards the better understanding in determination of cell fate post-transplantation.

Keywords: Hepatic stem cells, Bioengineering, Liver cirrhosis, Labeling and tracking

Core tip: Liver cirrhosis is characterized by distortion of liver architecture, necrosis of hepatocytes and regenerative nodules formation leading to cirrhosis. The available treatment modalities are not very effective against liver cirrhosis. Stem cells are considered one of the potential adjuvant treatment modality in liver cirrhosis patients. Fetal hepatic stem cells transplantation in liver cirrhosis has emerged as an alternative to organ transplantation. However long-term stem cells labeling and tracking is needed for cell fate determination after transplantation. Decellularization technology provides a novel tool to develop bioengineered personalized livers to accomplish the shortage of donor livers.