The World Authority For Unbiased Longevity News™️

Subscribe Today!

Our Mission: SuperAging™
(n.) Using new medical science and biohacking to slow down the aging process, repair existing damage and live a dramatically longer life in peak physical and mental health.

Credit: https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/functional-bile-duct-cells-generated-from-stem-cells-356083 

Stem Cell Research Promises New Treatments for Liver Disorders

November 23, 2021

  • Scientists have produced functional bile duct cells using pluripotent stem cells.
  • Researchers can now produce cellular analogs for hard-to-read organs that are difficult to study directly.
  • Stem cells could also be used as a treatment to cure patients without resorting to transplantation.
Commonly considered a lung disease, cystic fibrosis is a disorder that causes fibrotic structures to develop in the lungs, blocking gas exchange. However, liver disease is the second most common cause of death in patients with cystic fibrosis. A new method of using stem cells to produce somatic, functional cells has opened new avenues to treatment for patients diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and liver disease. Patients with cystic fibrosis can experience decreased bile flow through the bile duct. The bile duct is a tube from the liver to the small intestine that carries products away from the liver for disposal. Reduced flow in the bile duct can reduce the ability of the liver to remove toxins from the body. In some cases, a liver transplant is required. Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a method using stem cells to create functional cholangiocyte cells, which are the cells that form the bile duct. Before this research, it was challenging to directly study the bile duct cells. Put simply, scientists can now create bile duct cells outside of a patient’s body using only stem cells. Researchers can use these artificially created cells to perform important research into bile duct disease and how it impacts the liver. A promising direction of study involves using healthy bile duct cells grown from stem cells to repair the bile duct in a patient. Currently, severe liver disease caused by a malfunctioning bile duct is treatable only through a transplant. If doctors could use lab-grown bile duct cells to improve bile flow from the liver, it could prevent hundreds of complex and dangerous liver transplants. The production of functioning bile duct cells took the effort of many researchers. A scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute, Mina Ogawa, identified the method of changing pluripotent stem cells into cholangiocytes, producing the first viable bile duct cells. Dohne Yang, a Ph.D. candidate working at the Institute, compared the lab-grown cholangiocytes to human cholangiocytes at the cellular level. Janet Jiang and Sunny Xia, working under Christine Bear at the University of Toronto, discovered that the lab-grown bile duct cells functioned identically to their human counterparts. The momentous effort of the research team has led to a direct line on new therapies for hard-to-access organs, such as the bile duct. Researchers are excited about the prospect of individualized, minimally invasive treatments which could knock transplantation back to a last-resort measure. Credit: https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/functional-bile-duct-cells-generated-from-stem-cells-356083 

References: https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/functional-bile-duct-cells-generated-from-stem-cells-356083

Share Your Thoughts

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2022 LongevityAge