U.S. scientists have succeeded in growing a human liver in the laboratory, according to the Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom. The landmark breakthrough has the potential to address the shortage of human organs for transplantation and will improve drug testing. Still in experimental stage Must ensure patient safety U.S. scientists have successfully grown mini human livers in the lab, signaling the possibility of customized organ transplants in the future. Zhang Hao of the Department of General Surgery at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, announced on Oct. 30 at the annual public meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston that they have grown functioning livers the size of walnut meat. The research project was led by a researcher from Wake, North Carolina, USA. Shay Sok, an associate professor at the Forrester School of Regenerative Medicine, said, “We are very excited about this project. We are very excited about the possibilities presented by this research,” said Salk. But we must emphasize that our research is still in its infancy, and many technical difficulties still need to be overcome before (the technology) can benefit patients.” Not only do we need to know how many billions of hepatocytes need to be grown at a time to form a liver large enough for a patient’s transplant, but we also have to determine if the organs are safe to use in patients, Sock noted. Salk’s colleague, Pedro Paptista, said, “We need to know how many liver cells are needed at a time to form a large enough liver for transplantation. Paptista noted, “Because the liver needs to continue to grow, our hope is that once these organs are transplanted, they will maintain and increase in function as they continue to develop.” Perhaps five years away from clinical application In developing this technology, the researchers’ work will not only raise visions of creating organs, but also trigger the ire of opponents of stem cell research. The technology will take a minimum of five years to go from the lab to clinical application. It would also open the prospect of growing other replacement organs, including the liver or pancreas, for patients who might donate stem cells. Artificially grown livers could be transplanted into patients or used to test the safety of experimental drugs. Dr. Paptista noted, “This would more closely mimic the metabolism of a drug in a human liver, something that might be difficult to replicate in a test animal body.” The laboratory liver, they note, would need to be grown in some sort of reactor for about a week and then, like a human organ, would begin to grow and produce function. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston used a similar scaffolding process earlier this year to form mini-mouse liver grafts that were transplanted into live mice, which survived for a few hours. Liver disease death rate to double in next 20 years In England and Wales, liver disease is the fifth leading killer after heart disease, cancer, stroke and respiratory disease, and it is the only major cause of death that is increasing every year. According to statistics, in 2008, about 16,087 British people died of liver disease, the figure increased by 4, 5% over the previous year. It is predicted that the death rate from liver disease will double in the next 20 years. Last year, about 644 people received liver transplants, and between 2007 and 2008, about 1,121 patients were in the waiting list for liver transplants. There are two main causes of liver damage: alcohol-related cirrhosis and hepatitis B transmission. Sara Matthews, a spokeswoman for the British Liver Trust, said, “There are two main causes of liver damage: alcohol-related cirrhosis and hepatitis B infection. Matthews said: “In the UK, the trend towards obesity is expanding and alcohol habits remain difficult to eradicate, which has an impact on the quality of donor organs available, so we urgently need advances in liver science. We are encouraged by these findings, but we also need to remind patients that this technology is still several years away from laboratory to clinical application.”