Liver in lymph nodes
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have grown functioning liver fragments in the lymph nodes of large animals from their own hepatocytes.
A healthy nutrient medium plays an extremely important role for the growth and reproduction of hepatocytes. If they get into a suitable environment and there is a need for liver functions, they can form new tissue. However, in the terminal stage of the disease, the liver contains a lot of scar tissue and is too toxic for normal cell division. Hepatocytes try to restore the liver, but they die at the same time.
Almost ten years ago, Eric Lagasse, senior author of the study, noticed that if healthy liver cells were injected into the lymph nodes of a mouse, they would form a so-called ectopic liver, which would take over the functions of a genetically induced damaged liver of animals.
To continue the work, Lagasse and his colleagues needed to confirm the results on larger animals. Their goal was to show that a significant mass of secondary liver tissue can be grown in the body of pigs, sufficient to replenish the impaired functions of the damaged liver.
To simulate human liver disease in pigs, the researchers diverted the main vessels from the liver, and at the same time they removed a fragment of healthy tissue and extracted hepatocytes from it, which were then injected into the lymph nodes of the abdominal cavity of the same animal from which they were taken.
All six pigs demonstrated the restoration of liver function, and a thorough examination of their lymph nodes showed the presence of not only healthy hepatocytes, but also a network of bile ducts and vessels that spontaneously formed among the transplanted liver cells.
The auxiliary liver increased when the damage to the tissue of the animals' own liver was more severe, indicating a maintained balance of liver mass and the absence of unrestrained growth, similar to cancer.
The results obtained confirm the data of another recent study in which Lagasse and his colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, showed that healthy tissue grown in the lymph nodes of pigs with a genetic liver defect spontaneously migrated to the primary liver, where it replaced diseased cells, leading to the recovery of animals.
Thus, regardless of the cause of liver disease, from hepatitis to alcoholism, growing an auxiliary liver in the lymph nodes may lead to a complete cure of the organ.
Currently, work is underway to organize a clinical trial with the participation of people.
Article by P.Fontes et al. The development of Ectopic Livers by Hepatocyte Transplantation into Swine Lymph Nodes is published in the journal Liver Transplantation.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on UPMC materials: Pigs grow new liver in lymph nodes, study shows.