UPDATE: Human liver grown in laboratory

A team of medical researchers have engineered the first artificial, miniature liver that functions similar to a human liver.

The results were presented by a team from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center at a conference in Boston.

The researchers were able to produce the human liver by using stem cells. The stem cells, nurtured with a mixture of nutrients and oxygen, separated into immature liver cells and endothelial cells, a new lining for the blood vessels. In a process called decellularization, the researchers stripped off all the cells from the existing organ by treating it with a mild detergent, leaving only the collagen “skeleton” or support structure. Then, the original cells were replaced with two types of human cells: progenitors, which are immature liver cells, and endothelial cells, which line blood vessels.

The livers were grown from human liver cells and are 1 inch in diameter and weigh approximately 20 ounces. For the liver to perform properly in humans, an engineered liver would have to weigh at least 1 pound, the team noted.

“We are excited about the possibilities this research represents, but must stress that we’re at an early stage and many technical hurdles must be overcome before it could benefit patients,” said the project director, Associate Professor Shay Soker from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina.

The researchers hope to grow functioning human livers one day. However, it will take this new technology at least five years to move from the laboratory to hospitals. The technology opens up the prospect of growing other replacement organs, including kidneys or pancreases, for patients who are able to donate stem cells.