Bone marrow cells offer hope for liver therapy

Bone marrow cells offer hope for liver therapy
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

WASHINGTON, JUNE 28: Scientists have discovered that certain cells from human bone marrow can travel to the liver and transform themselves into liver cells, a feature previously observed only in mice.

This ability makes the liver the only organ in the body capable of regenerating itself, say scientists from New York University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.

The discovery opens the possibility of new treatments for liver failure and gene therapies for metabolic diseases, as well as for eventually growing artificial livers.

Terming the discovery a "fundamental shift", the principal author of the study, which appears in the journal Hepatology, says, "My fallback position now is that any cell that contains the entire genome and most cells do has the potential to turn on any aspect of the genome and be any kind of cell."

The study also increases the understanding of stem cells, free-agent cells in the body that scientists believe have the capacity to convert into several kinds of organ cells.

"This breaks all the boundaries we're taught in medical school. This isn't supposed to happen," said researcher Dr Neil Thiese from New York University.

It's not that far-fetched to think that doctors will be able to take bone marrow from a patient with a liver condition, treat it and put it back into the patient so the new cells can treat the person's own liver, the study says.