Clin Mol Hepatol.  2015 Mar;21(1):7-13. 10.3350/cmh.2015.21.1.7.

Clinical implications of advances in liver regeneration

• Kwon YJ
• Lee KG
• Choi D

• KMID: 2155285
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2015.21.1.7

Abstract

Remarkable advances have been made recently in the area of liver regeneration. Even though liver regeneration after liver resection has been widely researched, new clinical applications have provided a better understanding of the process. Hepatic damage induces a process of regeneration that rarely occurs in normal undamaged liver. Many studies have concentrated on the mechanism of hepatocyte regeneration following liver damage. High mortality is usual in patients with terminal liver failure. Patients die when the regenerative process is unable to balance loss due to liver damage. During disease progression, cellular adaptations take place and the organ microenvironment changes. Portal vein embolization and the associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy are relatively recent techniques exploiting the remarkable progress in understanding liver regeneration. Living donor liver transplantation is one of the most significant clinical outcomes of research on liver regeneration. Another major clinical field involving liver regeneration is cell therapy using adult stem cells. The aim of this article is to provide an outline of the clinical approaches being undertaken to examine regeneration in liver diseases.

Keyword

Liver regeneration; Hepatectomy; Liver transplantation

MeSH Terms

Cytokines/metabolism
Embolization, Therapeutic
Hepatectomy
Humans
Liver/*metabolism/pathology
Liver Failure/therapy
*Liver Regeneration
Liver Transplantation
Stem Cell Transplantation
Stem Cells/cytology
Cytokines