Tiny livers grown in dishes to save lives

AUSTRALIAN scientists are creating mini-livers in a dish using a world-first combination of human cells in an ambitious bid to grow liver tissue for transplants.

Cells donated by cancer patients are one of the unique ingredients being used to make tiny organs for testing drugs and eventually even treating disease.

The O’Brien Institute department of St Vincent’s Institute in Melbourne and St Vincent’s Hospital team have successfully grown liver organoids measuring just millimetres in length.

More than 7000 die from liver disease each year. This is expected to rise as rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, viral hepatitis and alcohol abuse increase.

While the liver can regenerate after injury, over time too much scarring, tissue death and inflammation hampers its repair mechanism, leading to organ failure.

The team, led by Geraldine Mitchell and Kiryu Yap, is using a novel combination of three types of human cells, a human-derived liver gel and a biodegradable scaffold to create the mini-livers.

“While recreating an entire liver is an ambitious long-term goal, it is not currently feasible, however, the first, more attainable step, is to create a small amount of liver tissue that could be used in patients with liver disease to replace one or two functions of the liver,” Dr Yap said.

“If we could create liver tissue in the lab it would be a game-changer, especially given the increasing number of people who are obese and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and viral hepatitis.”

Other scientists are creating organoids in labs, but Dr Mitchell said their efforts used a unique combination of cells that will mimic the micro-environment, allowing complex organ-like structures to be created, not just balls of cells.