Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2020, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (20): 3248-3255.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.2529

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Alternative treatment for liver failure repair: current status and development countermeasures

Guo Wei1, Lu Shan1, Fan Hong1, Li Jun2   

  1. 1China National Center for Biotechnology Development, Beijing 100039, China; 2State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China
  • Received:2019-07-18 Revised:2019-07-27 Accepted:2019-09-02 Online:2020-07-18 Published:2020-04-13
  • About author:Guo Wei, Master, Assistant researcher, China National Center for Biotechnology Development, Beijing 100039, China

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: In order to solve the problem that the clinical application of liver transplantation is limited by the shortage of supply sources of liver, scientists from all over the world are actively exploring and have successively studied and developed technical means such as artificial liver, tissue-engineered liver and xenotransplantation. It can be used as a corrective or alternative treatment for liver failure.

OBJECTIVE: To expound the development history, research status and future expectation of repair and alternative treatment for liver failure.

METHODS: Relevant articles published from 2000 to 2019 were searched in the Web of Science and WanFang databases. The keywords were “active liver, liver tissue engineering, hepatic failure” in English and Chinese, respectively.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: For advanced liver diseases such as liver failure, there are some repair and alternative treatments, including in situ liver transplantation, cell transplantation, artificial liver system, and tissue-engineered liver. To date, a number of hospitals and institutions in China have independently developed artificial liver devices. Although bioartificial liver and mixed artificial liver have shown good prospects in the treatment of liver failure, most of them are still in the experimental stage of animals. Further investigations on the development of bioreactors to enhance cell survival in scaffolds are necessary. Tissue-engineered liver constructed by biological materials and seed cells can to some extent simulate the physiological functions of liver synthesis, detoxification, metabolism, and secretion, which can be transplanted into the body to treat end-stage liver disease. It is a research hotspot in the field of tissue function. Efforts to solve the clotting problem and to promote the vascular formation of scaffold are warranted in this field. Xenograft is the best way to solve the serious shortage of human organ donors, but there is still a long way for this technique away from clinical application.

Key words: tissue engineering, liver transplantation, tissue-engineered liver, artificial liver, hepatic failure, decellularized scaffold, 3D printing, angiogenesis

CLC Number: